


Dancing Among the Stars

by WillowTea



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Jamie is a movie star, Jamie is gay, Jamie is latino, Kevin is Korean/Polynesian, Kevin is a professional dancer, M/M, Mild Homophobia/Tranphobia, Mild Sexual Content, Movie Star AU, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, dancing with the stars au, kevin is bi, nsfw-ish
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-30
Updated: 2018-09-08
Packaged: 2019-02-08 21:10:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 46,988
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12873093
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WillowTea/pseuds/WillowTea
Summary: Jamie Cordero just got his big break in the movie "Sweet Summer Rose". After filming his second movie, Jamie is invited to be a star on Dancing With the Stars. Jamie's thrilled until he meets his partner, Kevin Hoapili, and is dropped in the middle of his own romcom called Life. Jamie not only has to learn to dance, but he has to learn to tolerate Kevin and his big moods while Kevin must learn to trust and listen. This season may be harder than either man anticipated.





	1. An Invitation

**Author's Note:**

> This is a redo of a fic I did a while ago. I deleted that one because I wasn't liking how it was going. I decided to rewrite it because I love the concept and want to make it work, so here's the redone version. The first chapter is short, but it's an introduction. I hope you enjoy this!

It was the last day of filming. 

Jamie had started this film almost a year ago, the filming having dragged on for certain scenes and to accommodate the other actors. When he had first gone to the audition he had been nervous, but the director mentioned having seen his last film and didn’t even care to see him read the lines. He got the part without hesitation.

Jamie had been in spotty roles his whole life, filling in the background and playing characters who had no names in the credits. When he auditioned for the role of James Whittley in “Sweet Summer Rose”, he had gone through weeks and weeks of call backs and nervous waiting. Getting it had been a dream come true. Becoming next hot topic almost overnight had been as if walking through a daze.

Ever since “Sweet Summer Rose”, Jamie had practically been begged to be in every romance movie that was being made within the next year. Several directors even claimed their writers had written the script with Jamie in mind.

It had all been a bit overwhelming, but that was what led him to the present day, standing in a field of bright green grass, underneath an oak tree so large, Jamie was sure he’d be above the clouds if he climbed it.

Before him stood a lovely young lady. She was America’s favorite child actress. After turning eighteen a year ago, she had been trying out for her first ‘adult’ role, and this was the one she had managed to land. Escorts were at her side constantly, including her mom, but Jamie didn’t mind. She was sweet and super nice, everything everyone ever said about her. 

“Alright, guys. That was great. We’re going to do one more. This time, Jamie, try lifting her chin with your index finger. Gently. The sudden kiss doesn’t seem to fit right.” The director was saying, gesturing wildly despite the rather simple topic he was discussing. Jamie nodded, looking toward Christine, his ‘love interest’, and gently pressing his index finger under her chin. The girl let her face be lifted gently but broke into a fit of giggles the instant they made eye contact.

“Good! Perfect, even! Just, Christine, don’t laugh this time.” The director said, waving at them as he jogged back to his chair a good distance away.

“Sorry, Mike!” She called, clearing her throat as she tried to reduce her laughter. They had shot this scene a few times already, but it seemed to be going well. Mike was about ready to call it a day, Jamie could tell the way he was smiling and directing everyone to their places.

“You ready?” Jamie asked, giving Christine a small smile. Dropping her smile in a goofy manner, Christine nodded, and Jamie gave her a small smile. Ducking her head, Christine looked away from Jamie and toward the ground, fidgeting with her hands a little as she did so. Jamie stared right at her, breathing in the summer air and letting it relax him. He was being gentle, and sweet, and loving. 

“Action!” Mike called, and Jamie felt the beat go through the air, waiting before he started so as not to seem too sudden.

“Ms. Jane, please forgive my forward nature, but I must confess that I have been in love with you since the day I first set my eyes on you. I admit, my behavior was not admirable, but it was all for you.” Jamie whispered earnestly, making sure what he said was loud enough for the microphones to pick up.

“Mr. Kensington, you forget yourself. You do not-you cannot love me, for I have acted most cruelly toward you.” Christine pouted back, her experience as an actress becoming very evident in the way she ducked her just a bit more, the way her eyes began to water, and the way her shoulders sagged and her voice rose when she emphasized ‘cannot’.

Jamie pressed his index finger to her chin, locked eyes with her, and planted a soft kiss on her lips. When he pulled away, he almost believed Christine had forgotten the kiss written into the scene, but knew it was her acting that was so believable.

“I forgive every wrong you have done me, for no cruel act is too cruel to make me stop loving you.” Jamie’s voice was more earnest this time, more pressing. He believed he loved this girl. She was his true love and the one he hoped to marry. A later scene that had been filmed earlier showed them getting married, in fact, but they were filming the confession scene last.

“Oh, William!” Christine’s tears finally fell as she blinked hard and broke into a grin, throwing her arms around his neck. They laughed and spun around, dancing across the grass as the cameramen did their magic, waiting for Mike’s call to stop.

“Aaaand, we’re done!” Mike called, Jamie spinning one more time before putting Christine down and grinning at her.

“We finished!” Jamie exclaimed, grinning broadly as Christine beamed back up at him. She laughed joyously and grabbed his arms, jumping and laughing and smiling. 

“Alright, people! That’s it! The work isn’t done yet!” Mike shouted, calling everyone’s attention to him. The cast and crew gathered around Mike to listen and Jamie was joined on his right side by his manager, who squeezed his hand excitedly but stayed silent.

“Thank for your hard work. This was a long process, but we’ve finally finished filming!” Mike exclaimed, the entire crew clapping and hollering their joy at the prospect of not having to work through various different climates and travel all over to shoot every scene. “We still have work to do, but for now, have a great rest of your day and I’ll see you later!” Mike concluded, gesturing for everyone to disperse and leave the set.

“Well, done, kiddo.” His manager said as soon as everyone had started chatting. Christine gave Jamie’s arm a squeeze before jogging off to give her mom a hug. 

“Thanks. Man, what a whirlwind. Can’t wait to get out of this costume.” Jamie muttered, his grin not dropping as the two of them directed themselves toward his managers car. She laughed and gave him a sharp nudge. Cringing slightly at the pain, he laughed along with her, glad to have such a good friend in his manager.

“Yeah, well, this isn’t the end! This is only your second movie! There’ll be plenty more where this came from!” She shouted, pulling open the driver’s side door and sliding onto the seat. Jamie did the same as he loosened the collar on his shirt, starting to unbutton it before closing the door and sliding his seatbelt over his shoulder.

“I need some free time, Jane.” He muttered, working the buttons on his shirt some more. Jane clicked her tongue as she started the car, pressing the accelerator gently and heading toward the gravel road they had taken to get on set. 

“You’re a star now, Jamie. A break is going to be extremely hard to come by.” She responded, taking a gentle tone now. Jamie nodded, dropping his hands to his lap and leaning his head back on the headrest. Jane had told him how many calls he had gotten within the first week of the movie’s release. ‘Too many to count’, she had said. Jamie was popular and now everyone wanted him to do something for them.

“I know, but I just wish I could have eased into it.” Jamie said, looking sideways at his manager as she smiled softly. She was beautiful, about ten years older than him, but his best friend. After he had left home, his family had all but disowned him. Occasionally they would call, but it was uncommon and surprised him every time. After he had moved to the city, he had no one. Jane was the first friend he had made.

A single woman living in a small apartment, he was her first talent. Mostly because he was a starting actor and she was a starting manager. It had taken them five years to get to this point and now that they were there, it was almost surreal.

“I know, kiddo. It’ll be fine, just take a deep breath for a couple of days and we’ll see what else comes up.” Jane suggested, hitting the AC on her dashboard and blasting Jamie with cool air. In the late summer heat, it felt good. Jamie closed his eyes and let Jane take over the music as they traveled down the bumpy road and finally turned onto smooth asphalt. They had to go back to the studio and give the costume back, but after that, they would be ordering Chinese and celebrating a job well done. Jamie already knew what movie they would watch while doing so and was looking forward to quoting Mr. Darcy until he fell asleep.

And then Jane’s phone rang.

Jamie’s eyes shot open as the ringtone came through the speakers. One of the first things Jane had done with all the money she earned by being the manager of America’s newest heart throb was buy a fancy new radio. She was able to make calls over the speakers, which was really useful for her job.

“Sorry, Jame.” She muttered, hitting a button on the radio to answer the call. “Hello?” Her voice became formal and slightly defensive. The number had shown up as unknown and she usually answered like there was some creep on the other line.

“Is this Jane O’Connor?” The woman on the other end asked. She sounded rather professional but that didn’t take Jane’s guard down.

“Yes, who is this?” She asked, turning a corner, the city coming into view up ahead. There was some noise on the other end of the line, but it was gone as soon as Jamie noticed it.

“This is Deena Katz, of dancing with the stars.” She responded and immediately Jamie was more awake than he had been all day. Looking over at Jane with eyes alight, they both beamed but refrained from making any noises.

“To what do I owe the pleasure?” Jane asked, her voice having taken on a chipper tone as Jamie practically bounced in his seat. Dancing With the Stars had been one of his favorite shows as a kid. Growing up he had admired the way the stars learned to dance and progressed as people as well. It was one of his biggest goals, being an actor, to make it on Dancing With the Stars.

“We were wondering if Jamie Cordero would be willing to be a dancer on the show?” The woman asked, her voice calm and cool. Jamie had never known the selection process for the show, but he was thrilled that he was being invited. They wanted him on there! They were asking explicitly if he wanted to star in the show. Along with eleven other stars, but the point was they were asking.

“I’ll have to ask him, hold on a moment.” Jane kept her professional demeanor despite the expression on Jamie’s face. She looked over at him as they stopped at a red light and he nodded his head enthusiastically. She grinned back at him and mouthed ‘I know’ before watching the road when the light turned green.

“Thank you for waiting, he says it would be an honor.” Jane waited a few moments before saying anything, playing off her response as if she wasn’t on speaker phone with Jamie in the car. There was a slight pause before Deena responded.

“Fantastic. I’ll let you know the schedule we’ll organize his partner meet up in a few weeks.” Deena explained. The call ended with a couple of ‘thank you’s and ‘good day’s. Jamie could almost feel the buzz coursing through his veins and, the instant the call ended and the radio resumed playing music, he shouted aloud.

“This is amazing! I’ve always wanted to be on Dancing With the Stars!” Jamie practically shrieked, jumping in his seat as Jane pulled into the studio parking lot. She laughed along with him, putting the car into park before leaning over in her seat and giving him an awkward hug.

“You did it, kid! You’re officially a star!” She exclaimed when she pulled away. Jamie felt his eyes beginning to water and, before he could stop it, there were tears on his cheeks. Jane wiped them away, rested a hand on his cheek, and then pulled away, unbuckling herself and getting out of the car. Her expression was a contented happy. Jamie didn’t care that he had been complaining about wanting a break earlier, this was something he was more than willing to jump right into. 

Jamie slid the seatbelt over his shoulder and exited the car, jogging to catch up with Jane. These were going to be the best several months of his life.

\----

Jamie was rethinking that ‘best several months of his life’ thing and it had only been a week. 

After getting the call, Jamie had been told he and his partner, Kevin Hoapili, would be meeting up during a fake shooting of a scene from one of his movies. Dancing With the Stars had produced costumes and set as if they grew on trees. Walking onto the set that morning, Jamie had been ready to meet his partner for the next few months. 

He’d watched the guy’s dancing in previous seasons and had been extremely enthusiastic to find out that he had won the previous season: the first season Jamie hadn’t watched as it was coming out. Still, the guy was an amazing dancer and he knew how to work a celebrity into a mold. They melted like putty beneath his fingers, despite their controlling facades. 

Watching the behind the scenes of Kevin’s practices with his partners was frightening. They fought all the time, the celebrity constantly walking out until Kevin would come and apologize. He seemed rough and hard to handle until he was left alone and then he would apologize, though something about each apology was off. 

Jamie tried putting the fights out of his mind, they only ever showed the juicy stuff, but they kept eating at the back of his mind. He didn’t handle confrontation very well, it was one of his weakest points. But if it meant dancing on the show, he could handle.

Maybe.

The day had finally arrived to meet Kevin in person. They hadn’t had any opportunities to meet up before to figure out exactly how it would go, but there was a kind of script that had been planned for them, so Jamie only felt anxious about actually meeting Kevin.

Arriving on set, Jamie got into costume and onto set. It was a beautiful room, decorated with ornate trim and detailed curtains. Everything was so well crafted, if it wasn’t for the giant half of the room missing, Jamie would have thought the place was real. 

Meandering about it, he took in all the detail, mouth slightly agape. Despite having been on similar sets, Jamie felt the magic as fresh as if this were his first time on such a set. Wonder filled him, swelling his chest with joy and calming his nerves. It was almost as if he was waiting for filming to start for a real movie. 

There came a knocking behind him, someone coming through the fake door on the opposite side of the fake room. Jamie turned to find himself facing one of the most beautiful men he had ever seen. 

Standing taller than Jamie by a few inches, dark brown skin washed out slightly by the lights, almost black hair combed neatly out of his face, was Kevin Hoapili. His body was lithe, despite being hidden under layers of clothing, and the tight costume pants he wore defined a butt that TV cameras couldn’t even imagine trying to capture.

Jamie felt his face immediately start to heat up, cheeks burning a bright color. Hopefully, under all the stage makeup he had put on, the blush wasn’t noticeable. 

“Good day, Mr. Cordero. I am Kevin Hoapili. It is a pleasure meeting you.” Kevin gave a curt bow and Jamie recognized the words as the first on the script. They had started filming and they hadn’t even told him!

“Mr. Hoapili, the pleasure is all mine.” Jamie returned the gesture with a small, practiced bow of his own. He slipped right into character, though he was still having a hard time not staring at Kevin’s legs or what was between them.

“Mr. Cordero, I came to inquire a small favor of you.” Kevin said, his voice smooth like chocolate. Jamie imagined he would make a great baritone if he were to ever sing. Swallowing hard, Jamie took a small step forward and rested a hand on the back of the sofa in the middle of the room.

“What is it?” Jamie asked, feeling strain in his throat as he refrained from sounding desperate. His voice almost cracked, an embarrassment he was sure he would never live down. Were they shooting this twice? Because he really needed a second go, this was horribly sudden and throwing him way off balance.

“There is a ball this coming week and I wanted to inquire of your plans for the evening it is on.” Kevin asked, taking his own step forward, long legs stepping almost as if gliding on air. Jamie took another step forward himself and tried to hold back a smile – a part of the character.

“I will be attending.” This time the desperation slipped through just a little bit and Jamie tried to bite it back a bit more. Sure, his character in this scene was supposed to be desperate for the man he was in love with to dance with him, but this wasn’t a full movie, he didn’t have to be this good.

“Would it be possible, then, for you to save the first dance for me?” Kevin asked, stepping forward one more time. Jamie let the grin break loose this time, taking his own final step until he was almost pressed up against Kevin. He could feel the other man’s breath just barely and had to hold back a choking cough. He stank like alcohol.

“Of course.” Jamie finally managed, his grin breaking forth in full force. Kevin let out his own smile but Jamie could almost feel the strain behind it. Something was off about this man, but Jamie let Kevin touch a finger to his chin, raising his face upward the small angle to look directly into Kevin’s eyes. 

“And, we’re good!” The director called, the entire crew cheering as they finished. Jane mimicked wiping a tear from her eye as Jamie took a step back from Kevin, taking in the fresh air the distance allowed.

“It’s nice to meet you, Kevin.” Jamie said, hoping that dancing with Kevin wouldn’t be a problem. He hadn’t known any drunks before, but if Kevin had alcohol on his breath now, what was he like the rest of the time?

“Hm.” Kevin hummed, letting his solid posture fall and his eyes scan Jamie up and down. Immediately the Spanish man felt self conscious. Kevin’s eyes raked over him slowly, as if locking away data for later.

“You have a sexy body, good for fluid dances, perfect to let me lead.” Kevin sounded slightly pleased at this last comment. “You’re shorter than I expected, Cordero. Don’t trip me up, don’t try to lead, and do not talk to me outside of rehearsal.” Kevin finished, turning swiftly on one heel and almost falling over at the motion.

Jamie watched, dumbfounded, as Kevin, walked away. The crew approached him to talk to him but all of them started to make faces.

“You’re drunk!” One woman exclaimed incredulously as Jamie walked into ear shot. Kevin shrugged his shoulders and hummed indifferently, similar to the way he had moments earlier.

“Buzzed, there’s a difference.” Kevin responded, already beginning to pull the costume off. As he reduced the layers on his torso, Jamie began to notice rippling shoulder muscles along Kevin’s back and his girlish blush began to creep back onto his face.

“Drinking on the job? Even you’re better than that, Kevin.” The woman scolded, following behind Kevin along with a couple of other crew members. Again, Kevin shrugged.

“I’m not on the job, this is just playtime.” Kevin grunted, turning as he reached the door, leaning slightly on the frame as if he might pass out any moment. He locked eyes with Jamie.

“Don’t be late, see you in a week.” Then he winked and left the entire crew along with Jamie and Jane standing in shock. Kevin had come and gone like a tornado. He was beautiful, that was for sure. Jamie wasn’t sure how he would be able to handle himself standing close enough to that man to dance with him. Not just because he was sexy and beautiful, but also because he was rash and rude.

“Oh, Jamie.” Jane said, coming up behind him and resting a hand on his shoulder. Jamie felt a whimper leave his throat and he tried to brush it off as clearing his throat. “I’m sorry, kid. That guy is a real piece of work.” 

“Mhm, yeah, a work of art.” Jamie mumbled, unaware he wasn’t as quiet as he thought he was. Jane choked at this and Jamie whipped around to face her, pink face now flaming red.

“Wait! I mean! Yes, he’s a jerk! A real ass! But…Jane….” Jamie tried explaining, holding his hands up as if surrendering. 

“Jamie, it’s okay if you got a crush on his body, I do too. But you can’t fall for the appearance.” Jane calmed him down by setting both her hands on his shoulders and looking into his eyes. Jamie felt foolish and embarrassed. He had met plenty of attractive celebrities and made a fool out of himself in front of them, but Kevin was the first hot guy he’d met that he was going to be spending a lot of time with. 

“Jane....” Jamie whined, leaning forward to lean his forehead on her shoulder. There was a small movement as she laughed, her amusement at his childish behavior soothing. He enjoyed Jane’s company because she knew him better than most.

“Yeah, Jamie?” Jane asked. 

“I’m so gay.” He whimpered and this time Jane laughed louder, making Jamie turn an even darker shade of red. After coming out to his family, Jamie had been open about who he was to everyone who asked. Or women who tried hitting on him. Jane was the first person to look at him and ask why it mattered. His family had been less than kind. 

“You sure are, kid.” Jane finally stopped laughing and pushed Jamie off her shoulder. “Now c’mon, we gotta go.” With that, Jane and Jamie turned from the set and headed toward the wardrobe to drop off his costume. In a week, Jamie would be learning to dance with Kevin the hottie with a body. Sadly, he was also Kevin the ass with the sass. Jamie wasn’t sure how much longer he was going to live. Survival was looking bleak.


	2. Week 1 - Foxtrot

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kevin starts to teach Jamie to dance, but it's harder than it seems. Will they manage to scrape by in the first week dancing the foxtrot?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry it took so long to update, but here you are! I hope you enjoy it. I took some creative liberties with Kevin's character, but really, he's just stressed because it's the first week and dancing is his life.

Jamie arrived early to the studio in which he and Kevin were going to be practicing. The camera crew was already there, which made him super nervous. He knew they were going to be filmed during every practice for the packages, but being filmed without a script frightened him.

Walking inside, he found Kevin already there. He had expected the man to be late, he’d been so high and mighty the day they had first met it seemed only natural.

Kevin was even more gorgeous wearing a loose tank top and tight exercise pants. His dark hair was a mess but his skin glowed. He looked like he had been working out for the last hour or so, sweat glistening across his skin. Jamie would have been disgusted by this with any other person. 

“Oh, you’re early.” Kevin’s voice startled Jamie out of his trance. Kevin had been on the ground stretching, his back toward Jamie. It took the smaller man only a few seconds to remember that dance studios had mirrors lining an entire wall and Kevin had seen him approaching.

“Um, yeah, you said not to be late.” Jamie muttered, shuffling awkwardly and stopping a few feet from Kevin. The dancer sighed, clearly exasperated, and stood with a single, swift movement. His grace was evident even in the way he pulled himself to his feet and Jamie felt his breath leave his lungs as he was met with the same attractive face from a week ago.

“You remembered, good.” Kevin’s words were sharp, sudden, and very cold. Jamie could feel his disdain radiating off of him and he suddenly understood why so many celebrities would walk out of practices. Just being there for five minutes made him want to get some fresh air. 

Kevin approached, sharp eyes raking over Jamie’s body. He suddenly felt very self conscious in his ratty tank top, old flannel shirt, and paint splattered sweatpants. He had chosen out the clothes he didn’t mind getting sweaty and gross. Kevin’s dance outfit appeared pristine and new.

“Take off the flannel. Toss it aside, wrap it around your waist, I don’t care.” Kevin instructed, startling Jamie into action. He pulled the flannel off and tied it around his waist. One of Kevin’s eyebrows rose when Jamie looked back up and he felt a blush cross his face.

“Your arms are well toned, good for holding poses. Stand up straight, roll your shoulders back.” Kevin commanded, watching as Jamie did as he was told. “No, don’t stick your chest out, you’re not a bird showing off. Shoulders back. Body straight. Good.” Kevin said good a lot, as if he was pleased that Jamie was doing what he asked him. As Kevin circled behind Jamie, he let out a little tut before coming back around.

“You should have worn tighter pants. I can’t tell what your ass looks like.” Kevin said, sounding disappointed as he stopped in front of Jamie. Jamie felt his blush flare hotter and he looked down at the loose pants he’d chosen. Part of him was glad he had chosen these pants; he didn’t want Kevin staring at his butt. The other part of him felt like he had disappointed Kevin.

“Sorry….” Jamie said, eyes staying on his toes. Roughly, Kevin lifted Jamie’s chin up so they were looking into each other’s eyes.

“Don’t apologize, there’s no dress code. Hold straight, never slouch. Wear tighter pants next time, I need to be able to see how you move. The flannel will do for now.” Kevin muttered looking down at the flannel tied around Jamie’s waist.

“You want me to remove it?” Jamie asked, confused about Kevin’s comment. The other man rolled his eyes. 

“No, it accentuates your hips. I can kind of see them through your loose clothing. Now, let’s get started, we don’t want to lose time.” Kevin said, taking a step forward and grabbing Jamie’s arms. He began positioning them into a hold Jamie recognized from watching the show.

“This will be the hold you will use whenever we’re facing each other. Always remember: shoulders back.” Kevin instructed, pulling himself a bit closer to Jamie. “I’ll lead. My body is better suited for it and I’m the dancer anyway, it’ll be easier if I lead.” Kevin continued, raising a curious question in Jamie’s mind.

“How does the show know whether to pair you with a male or a female dancer?” Jamie asked as Kevin nudged Jamie’s foot to get him moving.

“I told them when I started that I don’t mind either gender. The pairing process is complex, I don’t know how the whole thing works. Now, stop talking, we need to work.” Kevin said, pushing Jamie’s shoulders back again. 

Jamie shut his mouth tight and listened to Kevin. The dancer was right, they had a lot of work to do if they were going to be good enough to perform in a week. Every time Kevin showed him a move, Jamie would try to follow it and ended up tripping over his own feet. Kevin would get mad at him and make him try again and again. 

Each time, Jamie would apologize and Kevin would grumble under his breath about how Jamie didn’t need to apologize. The entire practice went on like this until Kevin finally called it quits and both men were sweating. 

“Well, that went horrible.” Kevin muttered, walking to the other side of the room to grab his things. Jamie followed behind him, slower and with much hesitation.

“Uh, sorry.” He said, unsure of what else he was supposed to say. Kevin stood straight and let out an exasperated sigh. Quickly he turned toward Jamie and locked eyes with him.

“Stop apologizing already, it’s getting annoying.” With this he turned and left the room, leaving Jamie dumbfounded and frozen in place. He was snapped back to reality by a hand on his shoulder, patting him gently.

“Sorry you had to be his partner, I know how much of a handful he can be.” It was one of the cameramen. He and his buddies had stopped recording and looked as if they were ready to chill for a little while before heading out.

“Thanks, I just hope I can make it through this week alive.” Jamie responded, earning a laugh out of the man. After a few short goodbyes and a couple of thank yous to the cameramen, he left the studio and headed out. This was going to be one long week.

\----

It was one long week indeed.

Everyday Jamie arrived early only to find Kevin already there and stretching. Kevin didn’t seem to mind that Jamie was later than himself, but Jamie always felt bad that he made Kevin wait. Each day was the same: Kevin reminding him to roll his shoulders back, hold his frame, and not trip over his own feet. 

He learned to point his toes on Tuesday, a task he took to with great pleasure. Kevin praised him when he had learned to properly point his toes by the end of practice but scolded him when he proceeded to lose his balance by holding the pose too long.

On Wednesday he learned more details for the routine, which they had gone over Monday and Tuesday as well. Jamie felt exposed as he flung himself out to the side, his arm spread all the way out, his other hand in Kevin’s. Several times he flung himself too hard and lost his grip on Kevin’s fingers, sending himself flying. 

Thursday they went through the entire routine once without stopping despite all the things Jamie did wrong. All of which Kevin pointed out: including that Jamie needed to remember to roll his shoulders back. Kevin taught him good expressions for the dance, but Jamie found himself reverting quickly back to his concentration face every time. Kevin would scold him for this before they left.

Friday they ran through the small details of the routine again and Jamie felt like he was finally getting the hang of things, but Kevin still found small things to nitpick when they finished it out. They ran through the full routine at least five times before they called it a day and Kevin left without a word.

Saturday they ran through the entire routine again, but this time, Jamie was sure he was doing everything right. Still, Kevin found small things to nitpick. 

“Head up. Look me in the eyes. Smile, this is a fun dance. Pick up your feet.” Kevin was saying as they finished up the last run through of the routine. Jamie thought he was doing fine, but Kevin knew better, he was the professional dancer after all. 

They struck their last pose, both men panting hard, before Kevin let go of Jamie and left him to regain his balance on his own. Nearly hitting the floor as he did so, he pushed himself to his feet and forced a smile.

“That went pretty well, I think.” Jamie said, hoping to pick up Kevin’s spirits and maybe make him forget how picky he apparently needed to be. No such luck.

“You’re expectations are extremely low, Cordero.” Kevin responded, walking to the other side of the room to grab his things. Jamie sighed, tired of Kevin and dancing. Maybe the show wasn’t such a good idea after all. 

“Sorry.” Jamie muttered, walking toward his own things only to be startled out of his depressed state by the sound of Kevin groaning loudly.

“Stop saying sorry! Geez, I don’t know what’s with you! You’re so timid, it hurts!” Kevin reeled on him, ignoring his things and approaching Jamie with an accusatory finger.

“S-sorry…?” Jamie said, realizing he’d made a mistake the instant he said it. Kevin rolled his eyes and threw up his hands.

“This is ridiculous! I won the mirror ball two seasons ago and have gotten second and third place with my partners every other season. I hate groveling at the feet of self entitled celebrities, but it was better than this!” Kevin yelled, gesturing toward Jamie as he did. Jamie felt his anxiety levels rising as Kevin’s angry expression turned toward him.

“Why did they think it was a good idea to change up my partner dynamic now!? You’re so timid! Shy, timid, and weak! The only thing you can do right is the toe points and even that’s mediocre at best! Why can’t you give a little flash? Pizzazz? You’re gay, for goodness sake! Add a little flamboyancy to the performance!” Kevin yelled, unaware of the color draining from Jamie’s face. 

“Throw your arms with more flare! Give an award winning smile, you do it on the red carpet all the time! Swing your hips a bit, I know you’ve got ‘em! You’re sexy as hell but you don’t show it! You’re so closed in and shy! Let it out for once!” Kevin finished, turning to leave the room. Jamie had watched Kevin’s previous seasons before and that was usually the rant the celebrity gave. Kevin would then follow them out and apologize, ‘groveling’ as he said.

But Jamie wasn’t Kevin.

Swiftly, he turned toward the camera crew, whose expressions reflected Jamie’s. They hadn’t stopped filming, though: it was their job.

“Please, please leave that last bit out. I can’t…I don’t want anyone to hear that.” Jamie begged, unaware Kevin was still in the room.

“Oh, you can’t stand thousands of people seeing you be a sniveling child on television?” Kevin’s voice carried across the studio, making Jamie jump a little.

“N-no…. I mean, I haven’t…haven’t come out to the world yet and I don’t…I don’t want that to be how I do it.” Jamie responded, finding it extremely hard to talk to Kevin when he could almost see the anger radiating off the man.

“You’re worried about coming out to your fans? You’re dancing with a guy! They’re not going to think you’re straight.” Kevin spat ‘straight’ like it was a vile word and Jamie felt the same power and hate behind that one word that he felt when his parents said ‘gay’.

“No, but at least dancing with a guy is a calmer, more elegant way of coming out than you screaming it in my face.” Jamie spat back. Kevin looked startled for a second before straightening himself out.

“That’s the kind of attitude I want to see tomorrow when you perform.” Kevin said. Jamie had had enough of this dick. With purpose in his stride, he walked right up to Kevin and slapped him, hard.

“You’ll be lucky if I even show up.” He hissed before grabbing his things and storming out of the studio, tears stinging the corners of his eyes. What had he just done? 

\----

Sunday was torture. Jamie sat in his apartment, staring ahead of himself as he waited for Jane to show up. He had told her everything that had happened and insisted that he was going to go. He had no idea why he had said what he’d said, but he was scared for what was going to happen. No one in the history of Dancing With the Stars had ever slapped their partner. 

Usually, partnerships were dynamic and fun, but anyone partnered with Kevin was sure to feel hostility. Jamie just had no idea how strong of an effect that was going to have on him.

There came a knock on his door before he heard it opening. Jane had a key and was allowed in whenever she wanted. Plus, Jamie didn’t feel like getting up just yet.

“Hey, kiddo. You okay?” Jane asked, walking into Jamie’s bedroom and plopping herself on the bed beside him. Jamie shook his head, not sure if his voice would betray him or not.

“You don’t really have to do it. I know it’ll upset a few people, but they should understand.” Jane said, leaning in a bit. Jamie shook his head and hugged his knees just a bit tighter.

“I don’t want to make them do that, Jane. I’m just afraid of facing Kevin. I’ve been afraid of confrontation my whole life, though, I need to get better at it.” Jamie responded. The only time he had really endured confrontation was when he had come out to his parents. But they had basically cut him off after that. Kevin was going to continue to be there until they were eliminated.

“Do you need me there?” Jane asked, wrapping an arm around Jamie’s shoulders and drawing him in. He nodded and for a second they just sat there. With that, Jamie sat up straight.

“Alright, let’s do this. Before I change my mind.” Jamie shot out of the bed and headed toward the door, Jane following behind. He really hoped he could handle this, because he didn’t want to be afraid anymore. 

\----

The stage was more intimidating than it had been Saturday morning. Kevin and Jamie had practiced a few times on stage before going back to the studio, where the argument had taken place. 

This time, it wasn’t filled with tech people working on the lights and the speakers. All that had been prepared hours ago. Instead it was almost dead empty save the hosts standing on stage and the judges at their seats. 

“I think I’m going to be sick.” Jamie muttered, ready to faint dramatically if the moment called for it. Jane laughed, bumping him gently on the back.

“You’ll be fine. Go back stage, I’ll see you after the show.” Jane gave him a gentle shove toward the backstage area and Jamie went, legs shaking and breathing coming in short and fast. Kevin was sure to still be pissed at him, why wouldn’t he be? Not only had he gotten a partner he hadn’t asked for, Jamie had given him a hard time for it. No! No, Kevin had given him a hard time, he deserved that slap. But Jamie still felt bad about it. 

Millions of thoughts swam through his head, making Jamie actually start to feel dizzy as he walked backstage. He was glad there was distraction from these thoughts in the form of the costumer.

“Ah, Jamie! Glad you’re here! Your costume’s over there, go get ready, they want to do a quick run through of the introductions in costume!” She was talking rather loudly, making Jamie flinch but chasing all thoughts of Kevin from his mind for the moment. 

Glad to have a distraction, Jamie followed her pointing finger and found his costume hanging up on a rack with other costumes. Quickly he found a room to change in and began getting ready. The costume was fun, a little sparkly, but not really Jamie’s style. He was sure it fit the dance, but he would have preferred something less glittery and more shimmery. 

Stepping out of the room, he noticed the gathering of many people in similar outfits. It was the dancers in their opening costumes. They all danced together as the show opened and then joined their partners backstage for the introductions. They were all breathing hard and Jamie assumed they had just finished practicing their dance.

Men and women were splitting up here and there to join their partners, smiling and giving hugs. A couple of partners gave awkward air hugs and then laughed about it. Jamie watched them wistfully, wishing he had gotten a partner like that. 

Then Kevin approached.

Jamie’s heart did many things when he finally spotted Kevin, every single one of them worthy of a dramatic faint. The first thing was to flip when he realized how attractive Kevin was in all black with the shirt unbuttoned halfway down his chest. Sweat streaked his body his breathing was even, as if the dancing hadn’t taxed him at all.

The second thing his heart did was to take all the blood from Jamie’s face. Kevin’s expression looked bored, as it always did, but Jamie had learned that he could also be very pissed. It was just his resting face and could mean a multitude of things.

“Jamie, you came.” His voice was even when he spoke, low and tired sounding as if he had gotten no sleep. This was not a tone Jamie had ever heard from Kevin and it made him more nervous.

“Y-yes, well, I d-didn’t want to embarrass both of us.” Jamie responded, cursing himself mentally as his voice cracked and he stuttered. One of Kevin’s eyebrows rose as he finished his approach, standing before Jamie at an uncomfortably close distance. 

“Okay.” Was all Kevin said and then the two fell into an awkward silence. Jamie shuffled his feet and Kevin took to staring at any place except Jamie. They stood like this for a couple of minutes before Jamie finally spoke up.

“Sorry for slapping you. It was uncalled for.” Jamie said, looking up awkwardly at Kevin and then back down again when Kevin rolled his eyes.

“I already told you, stop apologizing.” Kevin groaned, his awkward stance changing to a more defensive, exasperated one. “I deserved it anyway.” 

These words shocked Jamie. Deserved it? Was Kevin apologizing? Jamie stood, mouth agape as Kevin tried to awkwardly avoid looking at Jamie. When the actor didn’t say anything immediately, Kevin took it upon himself to end the conversation.

“Anyway, don’t mess up today.” With that, he turned and walked off. Jamie didn’t know where he was going, they were supposed to be rehearsing the introductions. Still, Jamie didn’t call him back. He was sure it had taken enough of Kevin’s willpower just to apologize. 

The rest of the rehearsal was a blur. They ran through the introductions quickly, making Jamie realize rather suddenly how real this was. He tried to smile as best he could. He and Kevin had decided to give fancy bows when they reached the bottom of the stairs, something similar to how actors bowed at the end of musicals. When they were done with that, Kevin had to go practice another dance with the other dancers and by the time that was done, it was time to start.

Again, they went through the introductions, but this time it was real. There was an audience cheering the on, the hosts were introducing him. Jamie felt blinded by the light. This was no different than when he performed for his high school’s musicals, right? But it was, it was very different. Jamie had never been a terribly good dancer in those musicals and now he was participating in a show that centered around dancing.

He must have been insane.

They reached the bottom of the stairs and did their bows before Kevin ushered Jamie toward the others couples. He couldn’t hear the host very well through the roar of the audience as they cheered. It had never sounded so loud on TV. The introductions ended quickly and soon they were all being ushered toward the celebrity boxes above the audience where they were going to spend most of the night. 

The first three couples went by in a similar blur to the rehearsal, and then it was Kevin and Jamie’s turn.

“Jamie? Jamie, come on, we’re up.” Kevin snapped Jamie from his nervous daze by grabbing his hand. A strange expression was on Kevin’s face, it almost looked like concern but Jamie wasn’t sure if he was seeing straight. In a daze, he followed behind Kevin, glad to have some direction. They reached the stage in very little time, right as the dancers were finishing the commercial break entertainment. 

This was real, it was happening.

As soon as the dancers were off the stage, the crew began setting up for Jamie and Kevin. They had a simple setup, which Jamie was glad for. In the background, on the screens, the package began to play. Jamie watched it, eyes enraptured as their first meeting was shown. Interviews were sprinkled here and there and Jamie felt strange watching himself being so raw on camera. Kevin seemed to be an entirely different person to the two sides Jamie had already seen.

He was calm and smooth, throwing in a small smile here and there. On screen, Kevin was charming. He was elegant and smooth and charismatic. Jamie cringed when practices were shown, Jamie stumbling through every single step. He knew packages showed mostly bad stuff and the way they coped with it. They seemed to have chosen all the ones where Kevin encouraged Jamie. When had those happened? Jamie couldn’t remember. 

As the package drew to a close and the audience cheered, Jamie felt Kevin behind him. Their staring pose had Kevin right at Jamie’s back, the breath on his neck making him shiver.

“Breath, you’ll be fine, baby.” Kevin’s voice was almost inaudible to Jamie despite their close proximity. He was surprised at the gentleness in Kevin’s tone, but the music started too soon for him to be able to contemplate why he was being so nice.

Their dance almost went in slow motion. Jamie smiled as best he could through the whole thing, but he was having trouble counting the steps and was afraid his concentration face was taking over his expression. He pointed his toes, threw out his arm, remembered the steps. He felt like it was incomplete, though the expression on Kevin’s face didn’t give anything away. They spun into a dip they had practiced a million times, a move they were actually fairly good at, and that was when everything went noticeably wrong.

Jamie hit the ground.

His teeth rattled together as his shoulders hit the stage. Kevin’s bright smile faltered for a second to one of pure shock as Jamie gasped at the pain. Immediately he pushed to his feet, breathing heavy. Kevin regained composure and they tried to find their place in the song. Jamie tried his best to smile, but he could feel tears beginning to prick the corners of his eyes.

This was real, this was happening. 

The song ended and the audience cheered, but there wasn’t nearly as much zeal behind it as when they’d entered during the introductions. The host gestured toward them to come over in front of the judges table and Jamie suddenly started feeling the pain again. 

The audience quieted and the host chose a judge to say something. There was a pause where the entire room seemed to be holding their breath.

“What happened out there?” Was the first thing she said and Jamie felt his spirit just collapse. “You were doing so well, granted there was much room for improvement, but you just missed it.” She continued. Jamie felt like there was a hand holding his heart and it gripped tighter with every word she said.

“Jamie, I think you were a bit too far away for Kevin to catch you. Besides that unfortunate slip, you were rather enjoyable to watch, just work more on pointing your toes and not tripping on your own feet, I saw a few stumbles in there.” The other judge was saying. Jamie felt like the whole world was swimming.

“I disagree, Kevin was the one who was supposed to catch him. He was just a tad bit slow. But you’re right, just work on those things and maybe add a little partner chemistry because it felt a little dry.” Jamie’s breathing was shallow and filled with pain and every time a judge said something he felt like his lungs might collapse.

“Yes, work on chemistry. You two seemed a little too robotic, which might have been why that dip didn’t work out correctly.” The judges had finished their comments and the host was instructing them to go to the box to get the judges scores but Jamie’s head wasn’t entirely in it. Kevin herded him toward the stairs and they climbed, almost as if to their doom.

The hostess stood near the screen, holding her arm out to them as they approached her. 

“Wow, that was really bad. I hope it doesn’t affect your score too much, you guys were good. Does it hurt?” She was asking Jamie this question and holding a hand gingerly over his back.

“Uh, y-yeah, just a little.” This was true, though it had hurt like hell when he had first fallen, the brunt of the pain was gone and it was just a dull throb. There was going to be a bruise somewhere tomorrow, but it was losing his breath that had really frightened him about the fall. And the impact it would have on their scores. 

“Well, let’s hope the judges are feeling generous tonight.” She said, directing their attention toward the screen where the judges could be seen. Jamie felt his heart begin to race. He knew the scores were going to be rotten, there was no way they would be otherwise. 

The host called name after name and each number made his heart sink further and further. 

3\. 4. 3. 3. 

“Looks like a total of 13. That’s too bad, guys.” Jamie missed everything else she said as Kevin turned and walked away. As she directed the cameras back toward her co-host, Jamie followed Kevin, hoping to get something from him other than silence. 

“Kevin?” Jamie was hesitant to start anything with Kevin, as the taller man had walked them right into an area behind the scenes where no camera crew would go. As soon as Kevin reeled on him, he realized it had been on purpose.

“You fell!? How could you have fallen!? We practiced that move a billion times and got it almost every single time! How could you fall!?” Kevin shouted, arms thrown out to his sides to emphasize his exasperation. Jamie wilted, refraining from whimpering in front of Kevin.

“I’m s-“ He was cut off before he could even finish.

“Stop apologizing! You’re insufferable! We’re gonna get eliminated next week because of you!” Kevin screamed, turning away from Jamie and running his fingers through his hair.

“We might not.” Jamie said. They had gotten the lowest score of the night even though they weren’t the last couple. He just knew. But Jamie had a massive fanbase watching this and he felt almost confident they wouldn’t let him fail. 

“We will. We’re going to be the first eliminated.” Kevin growled, sounding almost as if he was about to cry.

“No, we’re not. We’re going to practice the dance for next week like we know we aren’t getting eliminated. We’re going to turn the tide and we’re going to stay.” Jamie felt weak in the knees, his heart racing mile a minute, but his words came out with more strength than he knew he had.

“You’re kidding yourself, Jamie.” Kevin muttered, his entire body sagging as he said this.

“Give me another chance, Kevin. We can turn this around.” Jamie insisted, taking a step forward. Kevin sighed.

“You better be right.” Kevin said, leaving Jamie where he was and heading back toward the box with the other celebrities and dancers.

Jamie sure hoped he was.


	3. Week 2 - Jive

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jamie and Kevin learn the jive while getting to know each other better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A'ight, so I realized I messed up a bit. DWtS airs Mondays, and I had it airing Sunday in the previous chapter. It doesn't say it anywhere, but let's just pretend that the first episode was special and aired Sunday. Yay! Anyway, I enjoyed writing this chapter, please enjoy!

Jamie had been nervous all of Sunday night. Practices resumed the next morning, so he didn’t have very much time to cool off before he had to get into the car and head to his doom. After their performance the previous night, Kevin had been extremely unresponsive to anything Jamie tried to say. Hopefully he would be more relaxed when they started practice this time….

Arriving to the dance studio on time, Jamie entered to find the usual sight of Kevin stretching, red and sweating like he’d already been working for hours. Instead of gawking like he usually did, Jamie dropped his bag on one side of the room before approaching Kevin. 

“Get down here and stretch.” Kevin mumbled, face almost pressed against his legs. Jumping, Jamie obliged and got down, following Kevin’s stretches to prepare himself for the day.

For several minutes they stretched together in complete silence. The camera crew focused on them but there wasn’t much going on so they looked just about as awkward as Jamie felt. It felt like hours before Kevin finally stood, continuing to stretch on his feet. Quickly, Jamie shot to his own feet, nearly losing his balance.

Kevin chuckled.

Immediately his smile dropped and he turned his head, but Jamie was almost one hundred percent sure Kevin had just laughed at him. Maybe they were still on good terms…?

“Um, so, this week is my jam Monday. I, uh, chose a song.” Jamie started, hazarding a glance at Kevin, who didn’t seem to acknowledge that Jamie was talking. Okay, maybe he’d respond eventually?

“I was thinking Vivir Mi Vida by-“ He was suddenly cut off by Kevin, who finally turned to look at him.

“No, we’re doing jive this week.” His voice was harsh and his expression stern but Jamie felt anger boiling in him. 

“Kevin, it’s My Jam Monday. The celebrities choose their favorite song and they dance to it. I don’t think Vivir Mi Vida is a jive song.” Jamie insisted, dropping his arms out of his stretch as Kevin did. 

“I know, we’re doing Footloose instead.” Kevin said, turning away from Jamie to grab a quick drink from his water bottle on the other side of the room.

“From the musical?” Jamie asked, voice incredulous as he half followed Kevin toward the wall where his bag was set. 

“Yes, that one. You’re not a terribly great dancer and there’s a lot you need to work on. We need to work on easier dances before we move to more complex ones.” He said, picking up his water bottle and taking a sip. Jamie snorted, his expression reflecting his tone.

“Easier? Kevin, I am Latino. I’ve grown up with Latino music. You can’t just assume these other dances are going to come easier to me just because they come easier to you.” Jamie shot back, crossing his arms into a defensive stance. There was just something about someone throwing Jamie’s heritage out the window that completely eliminated his fear of confrontation.

“They’re easier for everyone, baby. We’re doing the jive to Footloose and that’s final.” Kevin pointed at Jamie to emphasize this before putting down his water bottle and picking up a rag to wipe the sweat from his face.

“Right, just another man comes along to white wash me.” Jamie muttered. As soon as he said it, he regretted it. Kevin turned on his faster that Jamie would have thought possible, his expression indescribably pissed off. Immediately, Jamie wanted to sink into the floor and disappear forever.

“I-I’m sorry! Bad choice of w-words!” He exclaimed, still pissed that that was basically what Kevin was doing but realizing it was a bad choice of words considering Kevin’s complexion was darker than his own. That didn’t mean Kevin could unintentionally white wash another race, but Jamie had a feeling Kevin had been white washed before and knew the feeling.

“I’m not white washing you, Jamie. I’m trying to make this easier for you.” Kevin muttered, rubbing his hand across his forehead and brushing his hair from his face. Taking a good long look at his facial features, Jamie suddenly realized how thin Kevin’s eyes were and how delicate his face really was. Jamie didn’t know Kevin’s nationality because he had never seen anyone who looked quite like Kevin, but he started to suspect he was of Asian descent. 

“I know you are, but Kevin, I’m Latino. I’ve been dancing to this stuff my whole life. It’s honestly the only kind of dance I’ve ever known how to do. You said it yourself, my hips are the best part of my body.” Jamie felt a blush creep along his cheeks as he added this next part but Kevin had, in fact, said this multiple times during practice. 

“I know what I said, but we’re doing the jive. If you makes you feel any better, Latin Night is next week. We’ll learn a Laino dance then. Now, let’s get started.” Kevin turned away from Jamie and toward the mirrors, beginning an explanation. Jamie knew the argument was over. There was no way he could win against Kevin. However, it still irritated him to no end that Kevin was doing this. 

Jamie didn’t even like Footloose. 

\----

Monday had been a mess, but it had gone just as well as usual practices with Kevin. He yelled at Jamie to fix things Jamie had sworn he was doing well. He kept second guessing Jamie’s ability to follow directions and would start to get angry whenever Jamie apologized. So, basically, it was a normal practice.

Tuesday went just about as well as Monday, with less yelling and more firm commands which Jamie followed better than he had previously. Kevin begrudgingly complimented him on the work before giving him a list of things he needed to do better. 

Wednesday, however, went entirely differently.

It started out just the same as usual, Kevin and Jamie began working on the dance – which they had almost finished learning – and Kevin was yelling at Jamie about his pointed toes when Kevin’s phone began to ring. Jamie had taken to putting his on silent as to never interrupt practice, but he had never even noticed Kevin use his.

Kevin ignored it and continued with practice.

“Aren’t you going to answer that?” Jamie asked as Kevin stepped forward and they took the hold of the foxtrot. Kevin grunted and shook his head.

“They’ll leave a message if it’s important and call again if it’s urgent.” He responded, continuing to run through the dance with Jamie. After many rings, the phone finally went silent and they finally had quiet.

For two seconds.

When it started ringing again, Kevin dropped his hands and sighed in exasperation. Apparently whatever the call was about, it was urgent. Jamie watched as Kevin crossed the room and picked up his phone, glancing at the caller ID. Dread crossed his face and what appeared to be fear, something Jamie had never seen on Kevin. Hesitantly, Kevin answered.

“Hello, mother.” He grumbled into the phone. Jamie was surprised, though he shouldn’t have been. Kevin never talked about his personal life or his family. Jamie had always assumed he had one, but it never crossed his mind what they were like. Based on Kevin’s tone: not great.

“I’m busy, mom, I can’t answer the phone every time you call.” Kevin responded, a very faint response coming from his mom on the other end. Jamie couldn’t hear her at all, just the sound of a female voice saying incomprehensible words. Kevin rolled his eyes crossed his one free arm over his chest. As many times as Jamie had seen Kevin take that pose, he’d never seen it so defensive.

“Congratulations, but why was this so important you had to call me in the middle of practice?” Kevin didn’t sound excited about whatever he was congratulating her for. In fact, the dread on his face had started to echo into his voice.

“I don’t have a sister mom. I have a brother.” This statement caught Jamie’s attention more than the others. How would his mom mix up the whole brother/sister thing? Mother’s usually knew their children rather well, but Kevin’s dread had turned a bit toward anger and Jamie was intrigued. 

“No, mom, his name is Kyle and he’s my brother.” Kevin hissed into the phone, his anger turning toward murderous. Jamie took a step back and tried to pretend he wasn’t listening, but the conversation had just gotten extremely interesting. It was hard to understand, though, hearing only one side of it. 

“His address hasn’t changed.” A pause. “No, I don’t think he’d appreciate me giving it out to you without his permission.” Another pause. “Fine, I’ll ask him if it’s okay. Was that all?” Kevin’s anger and exasperation became more and more evident the longer he spoke. He emphasized every pronoun like it should have been obvious to his mother. And then Kevin hung up.

There wasn’t even a disdainful goodbye or acknowledgment that the conversation had ended. Kevin just pulled the phone from his ear and hit end. For a moment, he paused like this, his finger on the screen. Now that Kevin wasn’t talking, Jamie noticed that he was breathing heavily. The man barely lost his breath when working with Jamie, but now he was panting heavily and practically fuming. 

“Kevin….” Jamie hesitated in saying his name, unsure if it was a good idea to get his attention at the moment. He realized, though, that they were going to need to continue practice and Jamie knew Kevin needed to get whatever had just happened off his mind. 

In response to Jamie saying his name, Kevin snapped his head in Jamie’s direction. To Jamie’s surprise, there were tears watering along the edges of his eye lids. His teeth were clenched and his entire frame was tense. Jamie flinched when Kevin moved sharply, causing Kevin’s expression to soften as he tossed the phone back toward his bag. 

“Right, we should continue practicing.” Kevin muttered, wiping the water from his eyes before turning toward Jamie to put them back into the hold. Jamie watched him carefully the rest of practice, but he wasn’t sure how to go about asking what had just happened without shutting Kevin down completely.

They eventually finished practicing, but Kevin hadn’t yelled at Jamie the rest of the time.

\----

The next day, Jamie had decided to get to know Kevin better. Neither of them knew anything about the other and, even though Jamie wasn’t going to get an answer about the phone call right away, he wanted to know more about Kevin in general. 

Walking into practice he steeled his nerves and approached Kevin, dropping to a stretch and looking right at his partner.

“I hope you don’t mind my asking, but what nationality are you?” Jamie knew to some this could be an offensive question, but he had spent the whole previous night trying to decide a better way to phrase it and had come up short. He knew there was a likely chance that being blunt would piss Kevin off further, but he had to take that risk if he wanted to get to know him better.

To his surprise, Kevin wasn’t angry. In fact, he was just as surprised as Jamie had been that he had asked the question. Kevin looked up at Jamie, lifting an eyebrow in that stupidly sexy manner. 

“I’m Polynesian/Korean. Why do you ask?” Kevin responded. Jamie knew there was Asian in there somewhere! He had suspected Filipino, though, so the combination was a surprise.

“No reason, I just couldn’t place you and was curious.” Kevin had responded and even looked intrigued! One point Jamie. Of course, that had been the only question he had come up with, seeing as family was a sensitive subject and Jamie wasn’t very good at getting to know people.

There was a moment of awkward silence as they finished their stretches.

“So, um, I know you’re Latino but there are a lot of Latin countries and I was, uh, just curious….” Was Kevin flustered? Jamie looked up at him, shocked that he was initiating a get-to-know-you question. It was endearing, the way he blushed and looked away from Jamie as he asked the question.

“You want to know which one my family is from?” Jamie asked, earning a nod from Kevin. “We’re from Spain. My parents moved here a year after they got married and six months after they had my eldest sister.” Jamie responded, hoping his extended explanation was enough to get Kevin talking.

All he got was a nod as they both stood. Kevin stood for a second before realizing that Jamie was waiting for him to take the hold. They started their run through of the dance in silence before Jamie finally felt like he should say something.

“Are you okay?” He asked, trying to look into Kevin’s eyes as he asked it. Kevin was rather good at avoiding eye contact, however, and he wasn’t able to lock eyes, but Kevin didn’t get mad.

For another several minutes they were almost silent as Kevin gave small pointers here and there. Eventually, Kevin spoke.

“My mom moved here from Korea with her parents when she was just a girl. My dad moved here to attend college. When they met, it was almost like love at first sight. They had me a year after they married and my brother, Kyle, two years after that.” Kevin said, his tone sad. Jamie didn’t say a word.

“Well, that’s not entirely true.” Kevin muttered, the sadness in his voice just a little bit angry. “Kyle was born female. His name was Kylie. He discovered he was trans his senior year of high school. At first, he kept it a secret from us all. He was afraid what we would all think. But that same year, I came out as bi to both my parents. They didn’t get it, though, and thought I was joking.” Kevin continued, leading Jamie through the dance as he spoke as if it were second nature.

“Kyle came out to me after that happened and, when he graduated, he moved in with me to attend college. I helped him afford his first binder and everything else he needed. We rarely visited home, but living several states over gave us a good excuse not to go.” Kevin had started to sound sad again.

“We eventually had to go for Christmas, my parents insisted.” Kevin paused, letting out a tired sigh. “It was a hellish mess. Kyle had cut his hair and changed his wardrobe since they’d last seen him. They had no idea who he was until I explained that it was their son.” Kevin started to continue but stopped, his voice cracking. “Needless to say we didn’t stay long.” He growled this last sentence. 

They finished their run through of the dance and stopped, Jamie still holding onto Kevin.

“So the phone call yesterday…?” Jamie hesitated in asking, but knew that this explanation of Kyle’s life was just a lead up. Kevin’s expression turned dark and he let go of Jamie.

“Our cousin is getting married and wants both of us to come. Most of the family knows I’m bi and that Kyle’s trans. Lucy doesn’t mind it, in fact she’s one of the few who accepts us. But the entire family is going to be there. I just know it’s going to be a mess and I don’t want to ruin it for her.” Kevin growled, glaring daggers at the ground as if it were entirely the floors fault.

“I’m sure you won’t ruin it for her.” Jamie said, reaching out a hand to rest on Kevin’s shoulder. He was immediately slapped away, shock registering on his face as he slowly realized he had overstepped. The conversation had been going fine until then.

“No, that’s enough. We need to focus. We don’t have much time before dress rehearsals start.” Kevin’s wall was back up, a solid iron and steel wall with reinforcement and barbed wire. Jamie wasn’t getting back in anytime soon.

\----

All other practices went exactly as they usually did, but there was a stiffness to Kevin’s manner. Jamie tried lightening his mood or encouraging him to yell a bit but nothing worked. He was much more silent, less abrasive, and definitely not trying his best. Jamie tried to make up for him, but he was afraid Kevin had just given up.

When the show finally rolled around, Kevin was no better than before. He stood along the balcony, watching the other performers with a dead expression. Whenever someone tried to talk to him, they got the cold shoulder and no response. 

Everyone asked Jamie what was up, but he only ever said ‘he’s not in a good mood right now’ and let it be. It was true, but Kevin had lost his charismatic façade in front of everyone. They all knew him as carefree and fun loving with charm in droves. Now he was dead faced and lifeless. It was weird for them all.

When they finally got on the stage to perform, Jamie tried to make silly faces at him, stick his tongue out, or just in general make him crack. Throughout the entire package – which had been filmed before their deep conversation – Kevin remained steely faced and dead. Jamie knew this was going to lose them points.

“Kevin, you better put a damn smile on your face before this package ends or we’re going to get a horrible score.” Jamie finally hissed. Kevin blinked, surprised eyes locking with Jamie’s as the lights lit the stage and the music began to play.

Then he smiled.

The jive was horrible, though Jamie already knew that. He stumbled a lot, losing his footing too many times to be any good. But they managed to finish and get the judges opinions. All of them agreed on one thing: he needed to work on his footing. Len pointed out that their chemistry was still a bit stiff and Jamie nodded for both of them, as Kevin had started to get lost in thought once again.

Their scores reflected their performance, but were far better than last time. Sadly, unlike the previous week, they weren’t done after they danced. They had to sit around and wait for elimination: which included them.

Due to their horrible scores from the previous week, they were on the block with one other couple. The score they had gotten wasn’t much better than Jamie and Kevin’s, but they definitely had done better. Still, Jamie crossed his fingers and closed his eyes. One second he was squeezing Kevin’s hand so hard he was sure he was cutting off circulation and the next he was jumping up and down and trying to look into Kevin’s eyes.

“Kevin! Kevin, we made it! We’re going onto next week! Kevin, I told you we could do this! Kevin….” He watched as Kevin registered a bit of shock, but generally remained dead. “Kevin, please smile.” Jamie pleaded, finally locking eyes with his partner. Kevin let out a small smile and then a grin and then hugged Jamie, tears streaming from his eyes.

They had made it.

Now they had to prove they were worth it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Time: Latin Night


	4. Week 3 - Salsa

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jamie overworks himself trying to please Kevin and some progress is made.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for not updating very frequently. I don't know where my motivation for this fic went, but I promise I'll try to update when I can! Enjoy!

“I am so ready for Latin Night!” Jamie exclaimed, entering the dance studio with arms flung wide in a dramatic show of excitement. After the previous night, making it passed elimination and onto the next dance, he was feeling invincible. He must have some amazing fans to override the horrible score he and Kevin had gotten. 

“We got a horrible score last night, we still need to get better.” Kevin muttered from his position on the floor. Like clockwork, Kevin was stretching on the floor when Jamie came in for practice. 

“Come on! Loosen up a bit! If we can survive through a low score of 13, we can survive through anything!” Jamie dropped his arms, tossing his bag toward the wall where it landed near Kevin’s. Jamie knew they needed to get better, that was just how Dancing With the Stars worked. But Kevin didn’t have to be such a Debby Downer all the time. 

“We survived through that score by sheer luck. Our score last night wasn’t that hot, either. If you want to keep proving yourself, we need to make it through Latin Night and onto next week.” Kevin’s attitude seemed stubborn, as always. Jamie rolled his eyes and let out a long sigh.

“Fine, Negative Nellie, but Latin is my style! I got this.” Jamie grinned, placing his hands on his hips and looking down at Kevin via the mirror facing them. Kevin finished stretching and looked up, one eyebrow raised. 

“Oh really? Then let’s salsa.” Kevin was on his feet in zero seconds flat, giving Jamie a look that challenged him to impress.

And impress he did.

Jamie had grown up dancing the salsa, the cha cha, and various other Latin dances with his family members at quinceañeras and other family events. Despite being second generation American born, Jamie’s aunts, uncles, and cousins had all married a Latinx person and had simply melded more Latinx cultures into their already very Spanish background. So dancing the salsa proved him very little trouble.

Kevin instructed him to move a certain way and he would with very little fault. Occasionally he would be corrected on the footwork, but Jamie had always been rather clumsy in everything he did. Holding his arms up became easier, as this was the third week working with a rigid dancing holds. As a kid, they hadn’t focused on the hold at all, but that was virtually the only new part.

Every time Kevin mentioned a step or demonstrated it, Jamie remembered doing it as a kid. He’d demonstrate his memory of the steps and leave Kevin in awe. By the end of the day, they had made it through the entire first half of the dance, a new record for the pair.

Finishing a halfway run through, Jamie came to a halt panting heavily. He was grinning from ear to ear, proud of how far he had come in a single practice session. When he turned to look at Kevin, he was disappointed by what he saw. Kevin was panting lightly, as if dancing the salsa for as long as they had barely exhausted him. His expression was awed, as if he was surprised that Jamie could be so good, but he wasn’t smiling.

“You’re doing better, but there’s still a lot you need to fix.” Kevin explained, turning to where he had placed his water bottle. Jamie’s smile dropped and his eyes narrowed. 

“Seriously? I’m doing good for once and you still have to point out that I’m flawed?” Jamie followed Kevin, grabbing his own water bottle for a sip. Kevin rolled his eyes as he put the lid back on his bottle.

“You’re not perfect and you never will be. The only way to fix your mistakes is to point them out.” Kevin said, the exasperation clear in his voice. Jamie rolled his eyes back, putting his water bottle back on the ground.

“You could at least tell me I’m getting better and leave it at that until tomorrow.” Jamie shot back, looking Kevin directly in the eyes. As usual, there wasn’t much there but cold indifference. They had been practicing together for two weeks and Kevin still wasn’t opening up that much to Jamie.

“What’s the point in getting your hopes up?” Kevin stated rather matter-of-factly. Jamie felt his heart drop. For a second, he was surprised. How could Kevin be coldhearted enough to say that praise was pointless? Once that second had passed, however, Jamie remembered it was Kevin he was working with.

“Right. Fine. Keep telling me I suck. See where that’ll get you.” Jamie snapped, grabbing his bag with as much dramatic flair as he could manage in his exhausted state. He silently hoped Kevin would stop him and apologize, that they’d be on good terms when he left. These hopes disappeared as Jamie exited through the studio door and Kevin didn’t say a word.

\----

When Jamie arrived to the studio the next day, nothing had changed. Kevin was on the floor stretching like he was every morning. He ignored Jamie when he entered, so Jamie ignored him. They stretched in silence until Kevin finally stood up, deciding that their stretching was done and that they would start.

The only words spoken were from Kevin, who instructed Jamie on the steps and corrected him when he needed to fix something. Jamie listened and did his best to follow the instructions, but Kevin kept pushing him harder. Jamie was finally getting it. He finally looked good doing the dance, but Kevin kept insisting he needed to be better. To push harder. 

Kevin had resumed yelling at Jamie when he messed up, as if he wasn’t listening when Kevin spoke. Jamie continued to try but was never quite good enough for Kevin. Once he got something right, Kevin would immediately move onto the next problem. Learning a dance in a week shouldn’t have been this hard, but it was. Jamie was exhausted.

Due to the pushing and yelling, Jamie had decided practicing a bit at home would be a good way to fix what he was doing wrong. He’d stay up and watch videos of other couples dancing the salsa and make note of what the judges liked. Sometimes he would stay up later than he had intended and only get a few hours of sleep.

This continued until Friday night, when they had learned the dance all the way through and had run through it once to catch any mistakes. Kevin was listing all the things Jamie needed to improve on for the dress rehearsal the next night but Jamie had zoned out. He had been losing sleep over this. Exhaustion made his eyelids heavy and his focus lacking.

“Jamie. Jamie!” When Jamie came to, he was looking up at the ceiling and Kevin was leaning over him, an actually worried look on his face. Jamie creased his brow, confused. He had been sitting cross-legged only moments ago, how had he ended up on his back? And why did his head hurt?

“Kevin? What happened?” Jamie asked, pushing himself back into a seated position as Kevin pressed a hand tentatively against his back to help. Kevin grabbed Jamie’s water bottle from where it had been sitting in front of Jamie and handed it to him.

“You just fell over. No warning.” Kevin responded, dropping into a crisscross position beside Jamie. Jamie’s brows creased some more as he sipped his water, but his head was swimming and he couldn’t quite understand why the room seemed to be dimmer than usual.

“I did?” Jamie’s words were slurred slightly, as if he had been out drinking. Kevin nodded as Jamie’s gaze floated around the room, unable to focus on anything.

“Are you okay? You don’t look so hot.” Kevin tried to lock eyes with Jamie, but this turned out to be harder than he expected. Jamie couldn’t focus on any one location, his eyes continuing to linger around the room. There was black fog on the edges of his vision and no amount of heavy blinking would get rid of it.

“You thought I looked pretty hot when I was swinging my hips.” Jamie shot back, tone less sassy than he had intended and more like a drunk person attempting to be coy. Kevin shook his head and pressed his hand against Jamie’s forehead.

“You feel fine. Can you stand up?” Kevin asked, pushing himself up slowly as he asked this. Jamie nodded, head still spinning wildly. Could he really stand up? Was that a good idea? Still, Jamie pushed himself to his feet with a little help from Kevin. When he was finally upright, he felt himself swaying slightly. 

“You look dizzy. What did you have for breakfast?” Kevin asked, wrapping Jamie’s arm around his shoulder and heading toward the studio door. Jamie didn’t even think about their bags as Kevin struggled to get the door open with a little help from the camera crew.

“Pancakes. Jane made ‘em for me.” Jamie responded, remembering getting up to the wonderful smell of pancakes. Jane couldn’t cook for the life of her, but she was a master pancake maker and would often just jump Jamie would a hot stack and a lot of syrup. 

“What time did you get to sleep last night?” Kevin asked, directing Jamie through the building and toward the exit. Jamie thought about what he had been up to the previous night. After going to a few meetings with Jane and a lunch with a director as well as a small dinner party with some friends, he had worked on the dance and watched a few more videos. Maybe even a Jane Austen movie or two.

“Um….four?” Jamie’s response sounded more like a question but Kevin didn’t seem to care.

“Seriously?! You got four hours of sleep last night?” Kevin’s concern had suddenly skyrocketed as he practically dragged Jamie from the building and toward his car. Jamie nodded as Kevin propped him against the side of the car and opened the door.

“Damn it, Jamie. You should be getting more sleep. You’re going to wear yourself out this way.” Kevin slid Jamie into the passenger seat and buckled him in.

“Right, ‘cause you’re not wearing me out?” Jamie muttered, head rolling back on the headrest and eyes closing. He couldn’t hear Kevin’s response as he slowly drifted to sleep.

\----

Jamie woke up to warmth and the smell of food. Slowly, Jamie opened his eyes and blinked against the light. He was lying on a couch facing a wall covered in large windows. The blinds were drawn open on every window and late afternoon light filtered into the room, creating the warmth Jamie was feeling.

Then Jamie realized he didn’t recognize the place.

Jumping, Jamie shot into a seated position and looked around. The place was modern, blocky and minimalist in both color scheme and decoration. The couch was surprisingly comfortable for its appearance. There were a few magazines on the glass coffee table and an empty vase. Looking around, Jamie found the kitchen connected to the living room flawlessly. The entire room had an open floor plan, giving him a direct view of the kitchen and its inhabitant.

Kevin stood at the stove, mixing something that sizzled and popped. His back was to Jamie, but he seemed to focus to notice that Jamie had woken up. He wore a crop top – seriously, Kevin? – and loose fitting yoga pants. His hair looked scruffy and unkempt, as if he had just woken up as well. 

Jamie slowly pushed himself into the corner of the couch and rested his chin against the back of it, watching Kevin shift his weight from foot to foot, the movement accentuating his hips. 

Then Kevin turned around. 

Pan in one hand, spatula in the other, Kevin turned around and froze when he realized Jamie was watching him. After a split second of staring, Kevin resumed what he was doing: placing the pot on a pot holder that was sitting on the island. 

“Sleep okay?” Was all he asked, turning back to one of the cabinets above the stove to grab a couple of plates. 

“Uh, yeah. Is this your place?” Jamie asked, eyes scanning the room a bit more. Out the windows was a view of the city from many stories up. Kevin hummed a response before he turned around.

“Yeah. You were out the instant I set you in my car.” Kevin added, scooping whatever was in the pan onto the plates. “You really should take better care of yourself.” He scolded lightly, grabbing forks from a drawer in the island and picking up both plates. Jamie scoffed as Kevin came closer and handed him one of the plates.

“You shouldn’t work me so hard.” Jamie shot back, looking down at the plate in his hands. It looked good, whatever it was, and vaguely familiar. As if he had eaten something like this before.

“I’m not the one keeping you up at four in the morning.” Kevin retorted, blowing on his plate to cool it off before taking a bite. Jamie frowned hard at his plate before blowing on it as well.

“That would be my anxiety.” Jamie grumbled, poking his fork into the food and taking a slow bite. It was still too hot to really get any flavor out of it, but it tasted pretty good.

“Anxiety?” Kevin seemed to have frozen in his eating. Jamie was starving, he had no idea how long he had been asleep and how long it had been since breakfast. He shoveled more into his mouth.

“Yeah. For once I actually think I’m doing good but, in reality, I’m still not good enough. So my mind’s like ‘you have to get better’ and thinks up ways to do this. This includes watching videos and practicing the dance. And then I can’t sleep because I’m thinking of getting better and that, no matter how hard I try, I’ll never be good enough.” Jamie explained, taking another bite once he had finished talking. 

“Jamie….” Kevin started, cut off by Jamie waving his fork to silence him.

“I know, it’s not true. I’m being treated for it, Kevin, I know how it goes. But sometimes I can’t stop it and sometimes it just piles on. Especially in situations I can’t avoid. Like practices with you.” Jamie said, taking more into his mouth. He was going to have to get this recipe. 

“So…you’ve been up late at night this entire week?” Kevin asked, taking a hesitant bite as if he was the one eating the new food for the first time. 

“Yeah. Not as late as last night, but yeah.” Jamie responded, finally looking up at Kevin. His expression was concerned, but Jamie was used to this from a lot of people. His last two big roles had kept him up late some nights. Jane was usually there to help him through it. Sometimes, even she couldn’t be with him every night. 

“I’m sorry, I didn’t know.” Kevin apologized, but Jamie shrugged it off. He was used to this as well: pity. Apologies were the same from everyone. Usually he could tell when they were sincere – Kevin was – but he often brushed them off.

“No, it’s fine. I know I need to get better.” Jamie said, finishing off his plate and setting it off to the side on the coffee table. Kevin shook his head.

“No. It’s not fine! I want to help you improve, but I can’t do that when I only try the methods I know work with me.” Kevin insisted. “I’m used to being pushed beyond my breaking point and coming back with more fire than before. But you’re not like that, and I should know that. I should have asked you what works best with you.” 

Jamie nodded, looking down at his knees, wrapped on the blanket Kevin had laid on top of him. It was already the end of the week. Fixing his teaching method now wasn’t going to do them much good for Latin Night.

“What did you do about my car?” Jamie asked, unsure about how to continue the previous conversation. 

“I called Jane. She picked it up for you.” Kevin responded, taking a few more bites of his food. Jamie nodded, pulling the blanket off his lap.

“Um, where’s the bathroom?” Jamie asked. Kevin directed him toward it, the rest of their interactions done in silence. Half an hour after Jamie had woken up, Jane arrived at Kevin’s apartment to pick him up.

“You okay, kiddo?” Jane asked, glancing over at Jamie as she drove them back to his place.

“Yeah, just tired.” He muttered, leaning against the headrest with his eyes shut. 

\----

Practice the next day was a bit awkward at first. Kevin seemed nervous around Jamie, which was a new feeling. After they stretched and got started working, Kevin relaxed a bit more. He asked Jamie what teaching methods were effective and tried them out. They were able to run the dance completely without much issue and finished the practice on time.

Later that night they practiced on the stage, in costume. Jamie still go a rush from being on the stage, even without the people. It was exhilarating, all the lights and the music. They were able to finish practice without much issue and a few pointers from Kevin. As they left, Kevin turned to Jamie and gave him a small smile.

“You’re doing great.” Was all he said before he turned and left. Jamie watched, face flushing with color, as Kevin got into his car and drove away.   
The next night was nerve wracking, to say the least. Kevin was awkward around Jamie, who was freaking out. It was as if the taller man was trying to calm him down, but having a hard time with it. Jamie found it endearing, but not very helpful. Every dance before theirs was amazing, Jamie watched as couple after couple got high scores and high praise.

When it was finally their turn, Jamie was shaking with nerves. Kevin stroked his arms softly, as if brushing the nerves away. This actually helped, as Jamie had calmed down by the time the music started. 

Then they danced.

Jamie lost track of time. The entire dance seemed to blur together. They were able to finish the dance without any obvious mistakes and the crowd was cheering loudly for them. The host directed them to the judges, who each gave their feedback. The judges were overwhelmingly thrilled that Jamie and Kevin had improved so much over the course of one week. They still had a lot to say about what they needed to fix, but the praise was high.

Their score ended up as low the lowest so far, but they were both grinning when they got it. By the end of the night, it was the third lowest score and they were positively beaming. Even being up on the elimination block from their scores the previous week didn’t seem to kill their mood. In fact, it was lifted by their moving on to the next week. 

Jamie flung his arms around Kevin.

They were both caught by surprise when Kevin hugged him back. Luckily, their awkward looks and dark red blushes were hidden by the lighting and the rest of the audience cheering. 

Another week down, yet another to go.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Time: Kevin's still learning


	5. Week 4 - Waltz

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Learning to teach differently is a little harder than either Jamie or Kevin anticipated and things go dramatically downhill. They're going to have to solve these issues if they're going to get any better.

Learning a new teaching method took a lot more effort than either Jamie or Kevin had realized.

After telling Kevin about his anxiety and how to properly teach him, Jamie had hoped practices would go smoother. However, It lasted only a few days before Kevin seemed to relapse into his old habits. 

“C’mon, Jamie! You need to go slower! You’re tripping both of us up!” Kevin grumbled, stopping them in the middle of a step sequence for the millionth time that morning. Jamie whined, looking down at his feet and avoiding eye contact with Kevin. The taller man sighed in exasperation but didn’t say anything else.

“Let’s go again.” He muttered tiredly. Jamie nodded, looking back up at Kevin as they shuffled back to the other side of the room to try again. 

Monday had been rather smooth, though Jamie had found the waltz harder to learn than any other dance they had ever done together. Kevin’s patience lasted most of the day, but Jamie could tell Kevin was trying very hard to hold himself back. They had managed to make it through the day, though, and Jamie felt like progress was being made.

Tuesday, however, was when things started to go wrong again. After they had stretched, they ran through the previous days lesson quickly. Kevin tried to correct Jamie’s mistakes but he wasn’t seeing any improvement. No matter how many times he told Jamie to do something, Jamie never did it. Jamie would apologize and they would try again. 

Practice was already half over and they hadn’t learned anything new. 

They ran the step sequence again, the waltz a much more flowy dance than Jamie was used to. His feet wanted to move faster and he was having trouble counting the steps. Kevin tried to turn him at the end of the sequence but Jamie was too focused on trying to keep the right tempo that he didn’t follow. 

Kevin dropped his arms and cursed. 

“This is ridiculous! Being patient and going at your pace doesn’t seem to be doing us any good.” Kevin spat, glaring at Jamie as he passed him to grab some water. Jamie fought tears welling up into his eyes and followed Kevin.

“Yeah, but doing it your way didn’t really get us anywhere either.” He pointed out, watching as Kevin took a long drink of his water before dropping it to the ground rather angrily. 

“Doing it my way at least got the dance completely learned. If we keep going at this pace, we’re never going to learn the whole dance!” Kevin protested, throwing his arms out as if adding emphasis. The progress they had gained in the last three days was opening the window and getting ready to jump out.

“Don’t we want to do well, though?” Jamie asked, knowing that the longer they spent on something, the better he’d know it. He understood needing to learn the whole dance, but they needed to be good to get a good score.

“Yeah, but we don’t get scored if we don’t know the whole dance!” Kevin shot, heading back toward the middle of the floor. Jamie hadn’t ever seen a couple that didn’t learn, so he had been unaware of this fact. 

“I….I didn’t know that.” Jamie muttered, following Kevin back toward the center of the room. Kevin scoffed before turning on his heel to face Jamie again.

“Obviously. Now, we need to move on or we’re getting nowhere.” Kevin insisted, lifting his arms to return to the hold and start again. Jamie grabbed his hand and they continued to another part of the dance, Jamie stumbling over his feet as he did so.

\----

By Friday night, everything had dropped below sea level.

Kevin had managed to teach the entire dance, but Jamie was still having trouble keeping the tempo and Kevin’s patience had worn thin. 

After the third time through the song – with the song ending almost a whole thirty seconds after them – Kevin stopped and threw up his hands.

“I give up! You’re hopeless!” He exclaimed, turning away and heading toward his bag. Jamie bit his lower lip, attempting to hold back tears.

“C’mon, Kevin, we still have a lot of time to practice before we have to do rehearsal tomorrow.” Jamie insisted, gesturing toward the clock to indicate that they still had more practice time. Kevin shook his head and waved his hand behind him, not bothering to look back.

“We’re not going to get any better. You won’t listen to me, no matter how many times I tell you. I give up, this is pointless.” Kevin grumbled, grabbing his bag from the floor and heading toward the door.

“Stop!” Jamie exclaimed, stopping in his tracks and clenching his fists to shout this at Kevin. Fortunately, Kevin stopped heading toward the door. Unfortunately, he turned on Jamie, dropping his bag and moving smoothly into full lecture mode. 

“No, Jamie, you stop! Stop trying! Stop telling me how to teach! Stop thinking you can do this! Stop trying to control me! This is pointless! I’ve never been so humiliated by my scores in all my years doing this! Teaching you produces no results! I don’t see how you could have graduated from high school if you can’t even learn something as simple as keeping a beat!” Kevin shouted, voice rising as he yelled. Jamie felt tears prick the corners of his eyes and opened his mouth to start his retort, but Kevin spotted the tears and rolled his eyes. 

“And stop with that ridiculous anxiety thing! It’s just an excuse to get special treatment! I’m tired of babying you just because you get anxious! I get anxious too, Jamie! I get anxious about performing and doing well! I might breakdown, Jamie, if we don’t do well! How would that make you feel?” Kevin hissed, his voice not dropping in volume despite the tears now streaming down Jamie’s face. Kevin was cruel and horrid. Jamie knew three sides of him, but he only ever got to see this one. Why couldn’t he have the arrogant charmer? That would at least be a little easier to handle. The big sweetheart would have been better, but that wasn’t going to happen. 

“My anxiety isn’t an excuse, Kevin.” Jamie spat, emphasizing Kevin’s name like it tasted vile. Tears continued to stream down his face, his voice shaking slightly as he spoke, but he cut Kevin off before he could say anything. “Shut up! Shut up, for once in your life, shut up! Listen to me, Kevin Hoapili!” Jamie practically screamed, stepping forward and almost standing face to face with Kevin. 

Kevin’s expression took on temporary surprise, but reverted back to anger within seconds.

“I graduated high school because of my intellect, not because I could count a beat! I never said I was any good at music classes! I was horrible at them! I only managed to pass just to get the credit! Saying I can’t count a beat isn’t the same as saying I’m stupid, so stop using it that way!” Jamie continued to yell, his voice going hoarse just in the few words he had already said. 

“And don’t even get me started on how worthless I am! I hear so much negativity from you, Kevin, that all the counseling I have ever gotten in my entire life has basically been nullified! I get it, I can’t dance! I’m worthless and pointless. Everything I try is useless and no matter how hard I try to do what you say, I’m never good enough.” Jamie screamed, tears continuing their wrath the longer Jamie spoke. His voice cracked several times and he choked back a few sobs. 

“But don’t think – don’t even think for a second – that you have control over me! You are arrogant, selfish, and toxic, Kevin, and I quit!” Jamie finished, pushing passed Kevin to grab his bag. Kevin’s surprise remained visible for longer this time as he turned to watch Jamie. It didn’t last, though.

“What about the show?! What about dancing?! I thought doing this was your dream!” Kevin yelled. Jamie didn’t grace this with a response and stormed from the room, letting the door slam as hard as he could manage as he left. Kevin stood, dumbfounded, staring at the door in the now very obviously quiet room. 

“Shit.” Kevin muttered. Then he said it again. Kevin continued to scream profanities until the camera crew left and he had screamed himself hoarse.

\----

Jane came home to the credits of Pride and Prejudice playing at full volume. On the couch was what looked like a giant pile of blankets. Jane knew better than to believe that Jamie had just dumped a bunch of blankets on the couch and left them there, so she crossed to the other side of the couch.

On the coffee table was a now completely melted, half full ice cream tub; stale popcorn; an opened bag of chips; and crumbs from each of these things and what looked like – based on the empty plate – toast. Turning to look at the bundle of blankets, Jane discovered a sleeping Jamie. 

“Crap.” She muttered, face softening at the sight of Jamie holding a box of tissues, his face too red to suggest that the crying had been just from the movie. Jamie cried quite a bit more than most when watching Pride and Prejudice, but he never cried this much. 

Grabbing the remote, Jane paused the credits and slid herself gently onto the couch beside Jamie. She pressed a hand to the thick layering covering what she assumed was his shoulder. Shaking it gently, she muttered his name, trying to wake him up. 

Slowly his eyes opened.

“Jane? What are you doing here?” Jamie asked, blinking at the light. Jane let out a small, breathy laugh.

“I live here.” She responded, pushing Jamie over a bit more and stealing some of his blankets.

“I figured you wouldn’t come back.” Jamie muttered, letting her take his things without fighting back. Jane frowned hard at this.

“Why?” She asked, looking over at him as he buried his face in his blankets.

“’Cause, I’m worthless and you finally realized it was pointless to spend time with me. I have no talent, why would a talentless actor need an agent?” Jamie mumbled, barely audible through the blankets. Jane pushed his head back up and tried to lock eyes with him.

“That’s ridiculous, kid! Why would you think I would suddenly up and leave? You’re talented and I believe you’re going to go far. I’m not just going to give up on you.” Jane insisted, still trying to look into his eyes. 

Jamie made no response but just refrained from looking at her.

“Jamie. What happened with Kevin?” Jane asked, her tone taking on a little anger as she realized that he must be talking about that jerk. Ever since he had started the show, Jane had heard a lot about this Kevin guy and she liked him even less every time Jamie talked about him. 

“It was nothing.” Jamie muttered, still trying to avoid eye contact. Jane was done with his avoiding looking at her and grabbed his face with both her hands. 

“Jamie Cordero, what did he do this time?” Jane insisted and Jamie began crying, tears streaming down his face without welcome. 

“He reminded me how worthless I am.” Jamie finally answered, sniffing and gently pushing Jane’s hands off his face. She had loosened her grip when she heard his response. At first, she was shocked. After a few seconds this shock morphed into anger and then pure hatred. 

“I have nothing nice to say about that guy, Jamie! He just gets worse every time you mention him! I don’t care if he said he would try to be nicer, no one like that can change! It’s just not in their nature!” Jane exclaimed. Jamie pulled himself into a tighter ball and shrugged.

“He was right.” Jamie muttered, his voice just barely loud enough to be audible. Jane whirled on him, fire in her eyes.

“No, Jamie. He was wrong. You’re amazing and kind and talented and you’re going to quit that show and we’re going to go on vacation. You need a break!” Jane insisted, standing up and pulling her phone out of her pocket. Jamie grunted halfheartedly, feeling a headache slowly coming on. 

“I already quit.” He said, but was too quiet for Jane to hear. After several seconds of pacing in front of the couch, seething and muttering profanities under her breath, Jane finally got a hold of someone at Dancing With the Stars. 

“I have a complaint to file.” Jane tried to keep her voice level, but it was obvious she was truly pissed. “About Kevin Hoapili” A pause. “Jane O’Connor.” She spoke impatiently, but her civility was amazing considering the nature of the situation. After a few seconds, Jane finally began her complaint, ranting into the phone all the things she had heard about Kevin from Jamie.

After a couple of minutes she angrily thanked whoever she had been talking to and hung up. With that, she plopped down beside Jamie and let out an angry huff. Jamie watched her from the corner of his eye as she relaxed her brow and leaned into him. 

“You are worth so much, kid. Don’t let some prick tell you otherwise.” Jane muttered, closing her eyes as she wrapped some blankets around her shoulders.

\----

The two awoke when Jane’s phone began to ring. It was dark outside the windows, but they both began to groggily react. Jane picked up her phone and pressed the answer button. It was an unknown number.

“Jane O’Connor.” She muttered sleepily, attempting to sound at least a little awake. Jamie couldn’t hear the other end of the phone, but suddenly Jane was very awake. “How did you get this number?” She sounded pissed, not on edge. That meant it was someone she knew.

“You have some nerve trying to call me after what you did to Jamie.” Oh. It was Kevin, Jamie realized. Why hadn’t he just called Jamie? They had each other’s numbers. 

“No, we will not reconsider. What you have done to my client is unacceptable. With his mental condition, certain things are detrimental and today you crossed a line.” Jane paused, mouth agape as if she wanted to say more but Kevin had interrupted her. “I don’t care how many times you apologize, you crossed a line and we will not reconsider participating. Not even for one more week.” Jane hissed into the phone, pulling it away from her ear to hang up.

Jamie’s hand lashed out and stopped her.

“Wait.” Jamie muttered, grabbing the phone despite Jane’s nonverbal protests. He pressed the phone to his ear. “Kevin.” He said with a bored voice. His voice was hoarse at full volume, but he tried to speak anyway. 

“Jamie!” Kevin sounded surprised to hear Jamie’s voice. There was a pause on both ends before Kevin finally said anything. “I’m terribly sorry for today. I know I crossed a line. I have a really short fuse when it comes to just about anything. I’ve never…never been pushed to try and lengthen it. I’ve managed to get by my whole life without any issues.” 

“I don’t care, Kevin. The past is the past. You were doing so well. What happened?” Jamie asked, not entirely sure he wanted to know. 

“I…don’t know. I tried, but I didn’t try hard enough. I know we don’t have much time to learn the dance, but please come back. We can dance this dance and then we’ll be done. I swear. You don’t have to see me again.” Kevin promised, sounding rather sincere on the other end. Jamie didn’t want to believe what he was saying, but he thought. There was silence for a little longer than was comfortable.

“If not, then that’s fine. I don’t want to damage you any more than I already have.” Kevin muttered, sounding rather defeated. Jamie found pleasure in this.

“On one condition.” Jamie said before Kevin had the chance to hang up. Jane was waving her hands and angrily mouthing things at him. Jamie was never a good lip reader.

“Anything!” Kevin sounded excited, like a puppy who had seen a ball or been told he was going on a walk. 

“Jane, my therapist, and a bodyguard stand and watch the whole time.” Jamie explained. Jane’s angry waving stopped and her expression turned to surprise and then a look as if she considered that a doable option. Jamie only added Jane because he knew she wouldn’t rest easy without being directly involved. His therapist would be able to help Kevin understand good ways to explain things to Jamie and assist in stopping any small disputes. A bodyguard would be only if Kevin got as angry as he had that day. 

“Yes! Definitely! All three of them are welcome!” Kevin exclaimed, sounding relieved. Jamie nodded, despite not being face to face with Kevin. 

“See you tomorrow.” Jamie muttered. He barely gave Kevin a chance to respond before he hung up. He handed the phone to Jane. There was a moment of absolute silence before Jane said anything. 

“Are you sure you can do this?” Jane asked, giving him a gentle expression of concern. Jamie looked at her and locked eyes.

“I don’t know.” He responded, confusion making his mind swim.

\----

Arriving to rehearsal with an entourage was weird. 

Jamie entered the building followed by Jane, his therapist, and a friend of Jane’s. The woman was a professional bodyguard and usually had a job, but was between jobs and owed Jane a favor. Of course, Jane could still pay her, just not as much as she was used to getting paid. 

Jamie found Kevin on the balcony where couples usually waited to rehearse. 

“I’m so glad you were able to make it!” Kevin exclaimed, stepping forward but hesitating when got a look from Jane. Jamie nodded, turning to look at the empty stage. Rehearsal hadn’t started yet. 

“I’m not usually known as a quitter.” Jamie muttered in response. His voice had started to come back, but it was still hoarse. He had also woken up with a horrible headache that morning. He’d taken something for it, but it was still sitting in the back of his mind. It would be a while for the medicine to take effect.

“I’m really sorry about yesterday.” Kevin muttered, coming to stand next to Jamie. The smaller man grunted in response but said nothing else. Jane, Dr. Billin, and Katie stayed back, but all watched with a careful eye.

The practice went rather smoothly for all couples except Jamie and Kevin. By the time they rehearsed, all the other couples had left to practice more. They were on the floor going through the dance. Kevin seemed to be watching himself carefully, as he glanced over at the group of Jamie defenders occasionally. When they finished – after their music for once – Kevin wrung his hands and glanced at the trio before he looked back at Jamie.

“Want to go practice some more?” He asked, his tone soft. Jamie was finding this kind of amusing. Kevin was afraid of two women – two rather strong and determined women – and a shrink – a very skilled and attractive shrink. On the other hand, Jamie was pleased. Kevin was trying. He was trying just a bit too hard, but he was trying. 

“Yeah.” Jamie responded, giving Kevin his first smile of the day. Kevin grinned back and they left to practice more, Jamie’s trio following behind.

\----

Everything was a tired blur to Jamie. He listened to Kevin and watched Dr. Billin explain how to teach Jamie something he didn’t understood. It was entertaining watching Kevin try to apply these lessons on the spot, almost immediately forgetting them.

“Kevin, you need to remember not to push too hard.” Dr. Billin said from the sidelines. Kevin nodded, biting his lower lip.

“Sorry, it’s kind of hard to remember something I’ve only just learned.” Kevin responded, grabbing Jamie back into the hold to go over the steps again. Jamie smirked.

“Gee, I wonder how that feels.” He said in a monotone voice. Kevin froze, eyes widening and cheeks darkening. Boy, it was nice to reverse things on Kevin.

Jamie remained only half awake the entire day, though he was pleased to report that the dance at least ended at the right time now. Kevin praised him almost too readily, telling him how well he had one. Dr. Billin pointed out that only praise was ineffective, but that too little praise wasn’t conducive to Jamie’s thought process. Kevin nodded readily and tried to give Jamie little points that they might work on before the performance the next night. Jamie agreed and made mental note of these things. 

He tried his best not to laugh as he watched Kevin wave as he left. The group got into the car and Jamie cracked a grin. Jane turned to look at him, grinning as well. 

“He’s ridiculous!” Jane laughed, Jamie nodding in agreement as he laughed along. 

“Is he usually that jittery and uptight?” Katie asked, leaning over to see up to the front of the car. Jamie shook his head, laughing a bit more. 

“That’s what makes this so funny.” Jamie responded, grinning back at Katie. They pulled out of the parking lot, chattering amiably about Kevin’s weird behavior. After a while, Dr. Billin piped up.

“I think there’s something he’s hiding.” He muttered, glancing into the rearview mirror to look at Jamie and Jane. There was a pause as the mood dropped a bit. Jamie knew there had to be something more to Kevin. He had learned about Kevin’s brother, which come off as something he never told anyone. Perhaps there was more to it. 

“Pfft, way to ruin the mood, doc.” Jane muttered, turning the car down a street and taking them home. 

\----

The night of the performance was less of a blur. It kind of dragged on, though Jamie was afraid it was the effect of not being drugged on sleep. Jane had insisted he sleep most of the previous day after practice and as much at night as he could. Which meant he was much more awake when Sunday rolled around than he truly wished to be.

Kevin and Jamie met to practice the dance earlier in the morning, finally getting some steps down better. By the time they had to get to the stage, they were able to make it through the entire dance without stumbling over their feet or looking down. It was kind of nice, that they were able to learn the entire dance even though the end of the week had been so awful. 

They stood on the balcony to watch most of the dances, talking with other couples and generally enjoying themselves. Jamie slowly pulled himself from his funk, loving the company of so many friendly people. Some of the dancers had heard about the complaint filed against Kevin and kept his distance. 

No one knew the details of it, but they were all aware that someone had called in a rather angry complaint about Kevin. Kevin seemed to be forcing his smile, but Jamie was glad he was trying. As exhausted as he had been, he was sure Kevin was exhausted too. 

When it was finally their turn to dance, they managed to get through it. That was about as accurate a description as could be provided by anyone. One of the judges even pointed this out; that all they had done was make it through the dance. They hadn’t felt it and they hadn’t lost themselves in it. All the other judges agreed, giving points on the hold or their expressions. One of the judges even pointed out that their chemistry was still lacking.

“It’s been four weeks and you still know each other just as well as when you first met! You’re not going to make it far until you learn to understand each other.” He finished with an emphasized hand gesture. Jamie and Kevin both nodded before they were ushered to the balcony. 

“That was a little harsh! I think you guys looked amazing!” The hostess at the monitor was always too kind, but it was her job to raise spirits and make viewers enjoy the experience. Negative comments wouldn’t do her any good. 

“I think they were right, we’re not really feeling it.” Kevin pointed out, hesitantly placing a hand on Jamie’s shoulder. Jamie let him, but tensed at the touch.

“Well, let’s see what the judges think.” She said, gesturing toward the monitor. Obviously, they already knew what the judges thought, but it was a smooth transition into the scores. Sadly, it was horrible. It was the worst of the night. Luckily, it wasn’t as bad as their first score. They were able to make it through the end of the night without getting up on the elimination block, but Jamie and Kevin both knew what awaited them.

When they were finally alone, Jamie turned toward Kevin and gave him a very serious look.

“It’s time we finally get serious.” Jamie pointed out. Kevin didn’t refute him, finally beaten to his knees, humbled by the excessive barrage he had gotten in the last four weeks between the scores and Jamie’s anxiety. It was time Kevin was reminded that dancing was for more than the money he made doing it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Time: Get to know the boys!


	6. Week 5 - Jazz

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The boys get serious and fun at the same time!

Jamie hadn’t been this excited about a dance since Latin Night. That hadn’t even gone as well as he had expected, but he was a huge sucker for Disney. Just the idea that they were going to be playing the roles of some of his favorite characters was enough to put a skip in his step as he headed toward the practice room.

After they had gotten their scores back from the previous night, Jamie and Kevin had finally had a serious heart-to-heart.

“I don’t want to stop dancing.” Jamie admitted, avoiding eye contact with Kevin as he spoke. He was aware of the sigh that escaped his partners lips, but didn’t look up.

“I’m glad you feel that way.” Kevin responded, obviously hesitating before he spoke. Practicing with Jamie’s new entourage had put Kevin on edge, even when the trio wasn’t around. Jamie appreciated that he was trying, but he didn’t have to be so tense.

“As long as Jane and the others can keep coming, I think I’ll be fine.” Jamie said, awkwardly shifting his weight as they watched the couple dancing on the floor below them. They hadn’t been the last to go and were still waiting for other couples to finish before they learned whether they would be on the elimination block or not.

“Of course. I think….It was really helpful to have them there as a reminder. I…would like to improve. I’ve gotten close to losing my job too many times because of my attitude.” Kevin muttered, clearly uncomfortable with admitting this. Jamie finally looked up. Kevin wasn’t looking at him, but was absently staring at the dance floor below. 

“You’re such an enigma.” Jamie was incredulous, staring at Kevin as if he might learn his darkest secrets just by looking carefully enough. Kevin turned to look at Jamie, brow creased in confusion.

“What do you mean?” He asked, shifting his weight so his body half faced Jamie. The smaller man snorted a laugh, rolling his eyes. When Kevin remained just as confused as before, Jamie explained.

“One moment you’re a hot headed jerk and the next you’re willing to try and be nice to me. But then you’re right back to being a horrible person. Then, in the packages, you’re cool and calm. You have so much charm you can almost see it dripping off of you! There seem to be three different sides to you and I can never tell which one I’m going to get!” Jamie exclaimed, taking his volume down a bit when he realized he could probably be heard by those on the floor below them. Kevin’s brow remained creased, but this time in more of a contemplative expression. 

“I’ve…I don’t know. I guess I’ve got a lot of stuff on my mind.” Kevin muttered, avoiding looking at Jamie as he spoke. Jamie shook his head, still incredulous. 

“Like what? What could possibly be running through your head that has you so bipolar?” Jamie leaned over the railing, trying to look into Kevin’s eyes as he spoke. The taller man continued to avoid Jamie’s gaze, shrugging.

“I don’t know….” He muttered, his voice growing softer. Jamie rolled his eyes and pulled back.

“I bet you do, you just don’t want to tell me. The judges said we need better chemistry, Kevin, that isn’t going to happen unless we talk to each other.” Jamie pointed out, taking on a matter-of-fact tone.

“I don’t know, Jamie! How can you be so insecure one minute and then blunt and sarcastic the next?” Kevin spat, turning toward Jamie, eyes narrowed. Jamie took a step back and Kevin’s expression softened. “Sorry, that was too much.” He muttered, looking away tiredly.

Jamie took a moment to think about this. He turned to watch as the dancers below got their comments from the judges. Jamie could be just as blunt as Kevin sometimes and would even fight back sometimes. There was an explanation for it, though.

“You’re right, I am blunt. I was raised to speak my mind and not beat around the bush. Sometimes that meant being a little harsh. My family wasn’t afraid of speaking their minds, so I was too.” Jamie started, thinking back to when he was a child and telling kids what was on his mind and immediately getting negative consequences. 

“I was also the youngest of three with two older sisters. They were constantly picking on me, though sometimes we played nice. My parents had extremely high expectations, too. They wanted all of us to get good jobs because they were barely scraping by just to live in America. When I decided I wanted to be an actor….” Jamie let out a shaky breath and laughed lightly. “Well, needless to say they didn’t react well. They were constantly telling me my whole life that I couldn’t do that, it was unrealistic. Coming out as gay was just the straw that broke the camel’s back.” Jamie muttered, crossing his arms over the railing and resting his chin on them. 

For a while, Kevin was silent. 

“I…I don’t know what to tell you Jamie. I’ve never told anyone about my childhood. I just…can’t bring myself to relive it.” Kevin muttered, voice soft as the next dancers prepared to perform below. Jamie nodded, turning his head to smile at Kevin even though he wasn’t looking.

“That’s okay. Why don’t we talk about next week, then?” Jamie asked, smile broadening. He knew what next week was. Next week was Disney week.

\----

So that was why Jamie was currently heading toward practice with a skip in his step and an entourage on his heels. Kevin agreed to try again and Jamie agreed to try harder. Maybe, just maybe, they would be able to do good enough to stay off the elimination block longer than one week. 

Entering the studio, Jamie tossed his bag off to the side and approached Kevin from behind. Leisurely, he leaned on Kevin’s head and faked a yawn. Kevin grumbled, now bent further into his stretch than intended.

“Get off.” He muttered, trying to push back on Jamie’s weight. Jamie let off without a fight and dropped into a seated position in front of Kevin. 

“You’re so uptight.” Jamie pouted, trying hard not to smile or laugh. Kevin rolled his eyes, moving into the next stretch.

“C’mon, start stretching.” Kevin muttered, also refraining from smiling as Jamie pestered him. With an exaggerated sigh, Jamie did as he said, moving into his first stretch.

“You’re such a killjoy.” He muttered, smiling coyly at Kevin, who rolled his eyes and stood to finish his stretches.

“We need to get a lot of work done today.” Kevin pointed out, finishing off his stretching and standing with his hands on his hips. Jamie nodded and refrained from rolling his eyes again.

“You’re only ever talking about work. It’s the first day, lighten up!” Jamie exclaimed, standing up to join Kevin despite not having finished his stretches. Kevin lifted an eyebrow at him.

“Why are you in such a good mood?” Kevin asked, looking around as if he something was missing and he was trying to find it. “Also, you need to stretch properly. I don’t want you hurting anything.” 

“It’s Disney week, Kevin! I love Disney! And pah, to stretching! It’s only the first day, we aren’t going to be doing anything straining on the first day.” Jamie said, waving his hand at Kevin to emphasize his indifference toward the instructions. Kevin shook his head.

“C’mon, let’s get started.” Kevin changed the subject rather quickly, Jamie just shaking his head and following him.

“See, this is why you’re Tiana and I’m Naveen.” Jamie muttered, grabbing Kevin’s offered hand. Kevin smirked but otherwise ignored him. They had work to do, after all.

\----

Jamie stopped, panting as the music continued on and then came to an end. They had almost finished learning the song and it was only Wednesday. They had made fantastic progress, but there were still a lot of things they needed to fix. Kevin had been doing pretty good the entire week, but Jamie could see his patience wearing thin.

“Alright, let’s go again.” Kevin instructed, heading toward where his phone was sitting near the speaker. Jamie heaved, trying hard to fight bending over. 

“Could we stop for a little? I need to breath.” Jamie muttered, feeling his panic raising with his heart rate. He hadn’t broken down yet, but overexertion without pause triggered his anxiety. Kevin picked up his phone and unlocked it, shaking his head.

“No, we need to keep going. We need to finish the dance today if we’re going to fix the mistakes in the next three days.” Kevin muttered, looking up for a split second as he spoke. Jamie tried to let out a groan, but his breathing was too heavy and it came out just like the rest of his panting. 

“C’mon, Kevin. We’ve still got fifteen minutes. There’s plenty of time to learn the rest of the dance if we just take a five minute break.” Jamie protested, heading to where Jane sat near his things, deep in conversation with Katie. He grabbed his water bottle, startling her out of her conversation. Dr. Billin remained silent, watching Kevin and Jamie carefully. 

“Five minutes is a third of our time. We need to get to the rest of the dance.” Kevin pushed, taking a step away from the speaker as he said this, pressing play on the music and putting his phone down. He resumed his dancing position but Jamie didn’t join him. 

“Kevin, please. I really need to rest.” Jamie managed, voice shaking slightly. It was hard to tell whether the shaking was due to nerves or exhaustion, so hopefully Kevin couldn’t tell either.

“We’ve rested enough by doing horribly the last several weeks. We need to make up for it with this dance. Now c’mon, we’re almost done.” Kevin insisted, heading back to where the music was to start it over. Jamie heaved a shaky sigh and bit his lip.

“Kevin, let him rest. Not everyone is used to dancing as much as you do.” Dr. Billin piped up, not moving from where he was. Kevin looked up when the man spoke, a little surprised to hear him. It had been a while since he had needed to say anything, Kevin had almost forgotten he was there. 

“Right, um, sorry. We can break for a little bit.” Kevin muttered, looking down sheepishly. Jamie smiled slightly, feeling himself relax just a little bit. He could do this. Just a little more work.

\----

By Friday, they had finally finished the dance and were working on fine tuning bits and pieces. Kevin grumbled something under his breath for the fifth time that day and Jamie laughed.

“C’mon, Kevin, if you have something you want to say, say it. I can take it.” Jamie called him out, stopping the dance and trying to look Kevin in the eye. Kevin sighed and looked up.

“You keep dropping your posture right there. You need to keep it tight.” Kevin pointed out, taking his own posture up and pulling into it smoothly. Jamie nodded, pulling himself back and trying to imitate Kevin. Kevin shook his head.

“Not too tight, this is still a fun song.” Kevin instructed, pushing on Jamie’s shoulders a bit to relax them. Jamie laughed, shaking his head.

“Tight, but not too tight. This is extremely particular.” Jamie commented, rolling between relaxed and too tight several times. Kevin rolled his eyes.

“Yeah, well, it’s what the judges are going to be looking at.” He pointed out, grabbing Jamie’s shoulders and stopping them in place. 

“Lighten up, will you? Were ahead of schedule! Let’s have some fun!” Jamie exclaimed, spinning away from Kevin and pulling off a few fancy foot moves from the dance. The music was still going as he did so. Kevin clicked his tongue and crossed his arms over his chest. Jamie laughed.

“C’mon, let’s freestyle!” Jamie exclaimed, holding out his hands for Kevin. When his partner didn’t move, Jamie danced forward and grabbed his hands, pulling him along the floor. Kevin remained limp like a wet noodle. 

“Think of it as practice for the wedding!” Jamie suggested, dragging Kevin around the floor some more. 

“Jamie, I’m a professional dancer. I don’t need to practice for something as silly as a wedding.” Kevin grumbled, trying hard not to smile as Jamie made silly faces and pulled him around.

“It’s not silly! It’s a special occasion! Something to celebrate!” Jamie exclaimed, attempting to spin Kevin in a circle. This time, Kevin slipped a smile and tried to cover a laugh as a cough.

“Jamie, stop!” He laughed, finally moving his body in time with the music. “It’s not like I’m taking a date.” Kevin added on, shaking his head at how silly his partner was.

“What?! No date?! Where’s the fun in that?” He asked, pulling Kevin on close, pressing their chests together and pretending to imitate a tango, despite the upbeat music. Kevin locked eyes with Jamie and the Spanish man prayed his blush wasn’t visible.

“I don’t think my parents would approve of anyone I’d want to take.” Kevin responded, pressing his forehead against Jamie’s, playing along with his game. Unfortunately, Kevin’s playing along with his game made Jamie’s blush deepen. 

“Isn’t that the point? Defying your parents?” Jamie asked, recalling how mad Kevin had been when talking on the phone with his mom. Why would Kevin want to please her? She’d completely written off his brother. 

“I…I guess. I don’t know, Jamie, I don’t want to make a scene. It’s not my wedding.” Kevin muttered, his expression dropping a bit as he spoke. Jamie gave him a gentle look, trying to look into his eyes again.

“Hey. Maybe…maybe if you go with someone your parents disapprove of, they stay off your brother’s back a bit?” Jamie suggested, praying he wasn’t over stepping by saying this. 

Kevin stopped moving and simply stood there, forehead leaning against Jamie’s, deep in thought. Then he dropped his hands and took a step back.

“C’mon, we should practice.” Kevin muttered, heading over to his phone to restart the song. Jamie glanced over at his entourage, who all appeared to have been completely enraptured by the scene before them. Jane gave him a quizzical look, but Jamie just shrugged, heading toward the center of the floor to resume practicing with Kevin.

\----

The rest of the week passed by without mention of the conversation they had had. Jamie and Kevin rehearsed the dance so many times Kevin started to lose things to point out. By Saturday night, they had done so well, Kevin let Jamie go home early to get a good night of rest. 

When they got to the stage Sunday night to finally perform, Jamie felt so well rested that he was almost bouncing off the walls. Kevin seemed to have a bit more energy, too. Though, it came off more as him being in a pleasant mood than really energetic. Still, Jamie was excited to see a smile on his face when he arrived to the studio.

“You ready for this?” Jamie asked, grinning as he approached Kevin. Kevin shrugged but smiled fondly at his partner.

“Yeah, I guess I am. We really have this dance down.” Kevin responded. Jamie’s grin widened at these words, joy welling up inside of him. Something like that was high praise coming from Kevin, especially since he seemed genuine about it. They didn’t get to talk long, as they had to go change into their costumes and get ready for the performance to start.

Jamie loved his outfit. He was basically Naveen from the beginning of the movie. He wore a vest and khaki colored pants, topped with a cap similar to the one Naveen had worn. With the varying shades of tan, Jamie appeared to have stepped straight out of a sepia photograph. 

All the other dancers had amazing costumes as well. It was like Jamie had stepped into Disney Land, people dressed up as Disney characters all around him. It was amazing! Jamie was having a hard time containing his excitement as the music began to play and the show started.

They were near the beginning of the lineup, which meant they stood behind the scenes for a bit before they finally got to dance. Jamie gave Kevin a massive grin before they started and Kevin smiled back. During their dance, they played Naveen and Tiana in a popping jazz number that Jamie had almost too much fun dancing. He was having so much fun as Naveen, he almost didn’t notice when the dance was finished.

The judges all agreed that their characters were spot on. They complimented Jamie for playing a fantastic Naveen and Kevin for pulling off an amazing, stoic Tiana. Jamie laughed at this, commenting that it was just Kevin’s natural demeanor, earning a laugh from all the judges. 

Their score was surprisingly high, earning a heavy dose of relief on both of their parts. Jamie was able to enjoy the rest of the night with little stress as the elimination block approached. Slowly, the rest of the dancers opened up to Kevin after the chaos of the previous week. Kevin attempted to socialize as the night wore on.

They were put back on the elimination block yet again, but they survived. Jamie thanked his fanbase, once again, for being so amazing and voting for them. He was sure they wouldn’t make it based on their scores alone. By the end of the night, Jamie was exhausted and high on the buzz of excitement as they lined up to wave at the camera at the end of the night. 

As they left the building, Kevin pulled Jamie off to the side and gave him a serious look. Jamie, confused, asked him what was wrong. Kevin took a deep breath, looking away as if debating whether he should actually do this. When he finally decided that, yes, he was going to do this, he looked back at Jamie.

“I want to tell you what happened to make me this way.” He said, voice low and serious. Jamie was definitely more awake now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Time: Spring Break fun!


	7. Week 6 - Spring Break

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kevin tells Jamie about his past and why he turned out the way he did.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I finally did it! School's out and I have the entire summer to write, so you better believe I'm going to be writing like MAD to finish this one because it's the only one I'm working on right now. Enjoy!

To say Jamie was disappointed was an understatement. Jamie had been dying from curiosity, wanting to hear Kevin’s tragic backstory. However, after Kevin decided he was ready to tell Jamie, he didn’t.

“Are you sure?” Jamie kicked himself for asking this, but he didn’t want to seem too excited to hear Kevin confess deep, dark secrets about himself that he had never told anyone. 

“Yeah. I…I think so.” Kevin responded, nodding slowly and fidgeting slightly. Jamie had never seen Kevin so nervous. It was kind of endearing. Jamie just wanted to wrap his arms around Kevin and reassure him that everything would be fine. 

There was a moment of awkward silence as Jamie tried to decide if he should wait for Kevin to start the story or if he should prompt the starting of the story. 

“Do you want to go to the beach tomorrow?” Kevin asked, locking eyes with Jamie and startling him out of his mental debate. The beach? Wait, what? Jamie blinked several times, flustered and shocked and not entirely sure what to say.

“Uh, yeah, sure. Shouldn’t we start practicing for next week, though?” Jamie asked, finally finding his voice. He wanted to ask why Kevin hadn’t started his story, but Jamie had to continue to remind himself that Kevin might need more time or he had something special planned.

“I figured we could use some time off.” Kevin responded, cracking a small smile as he spoke. “Besides, we can still get some practice in while we’re there.” Surprise was only one of the billion different emotions racing through Jamie’s mind at that moment. He was surprised that Kevin, stick-in-the-mud-Kevin, was suggesting they take some time off. 

There was a small moment of silence as Jamie scanned Kevin’s face, as if looking for a joke. When nothing happened, Jamie smiled back.

“Okay, yeah, sounds great.” He responded, letting out a small, nervous laugh. He’d never been a big fan of swimming, he’d always been bad at it. Hopefully he wouldn’t be expected to go too far into the water. Or to remove his shirt. He wasn’t exactly fond of his body, either. He had been gangly and kind of skinny most of his life. The movies made him look more fit than he was, but that was all effects.

“Perfect.” Kevin grinned, nodding his head and moving to leave before he turned back to Jamie quickly. “Oh, and, um, can you leave the entourage at home?” Kevin asked, clearly more nervous about asking this question than inviting Jamie to the beach. 

For a second, Jamie hesitated. He knew Kevin was getting better because Dr. Billin didn’t have to say much to Kevin during practices. Still, Jamie was unsure he wanted to be around Kevin for too long without someone to fall back on if things went bad. 

“I swear, I’ll try to be good.” Kevin pleaded, eyes looking desperate as he spoke. Jamie felt a little shaky, his fingers wringing themselves without his permission. He wanted to believe Kevin would hold true to his word, but previous experiences told Jamie to stay at a safe distance.

“S-sure. I think I can convince them to stay.” Jamie finally responded, hoping and praying that he had not just made a huge mistake.

“Thank you.” Kevin sounded sincere when he said this, almost timid and shy. “I’ll see you tomorrow, then.” With this, Kevin turned and left, leaving Jamie to question his every decision in life. It wasn’t until Jane noticed he wasn’t with them that she came back to grab him.

\----

Convincing Dr. Billin and Katie to stay home was easy. Katie was only there because Jane had asked her to and Dr. Billin had always believed in giving people a chance to practice new skills. Jane, on the other hand, had been a different matter entirely. 

After Jamie first brought up that Kevin wanted to go to the beach, but wanted it to be only Jamie, Jane had insisted on coming with anyway. She went off for several minutes about how she still didn’t trust Kevin and that she wanted to keep Jamie safe from him. Every time Jamie insisted he believed Kevin could handle a day without Jamie’s entourage watching him, she would shoot him down and continue to discuss his untrustworthiness. 

When she finally left for an appointment, Jamie called Katie and asked her to convince Jane. For as long as Jamie had been friends with Jane, he knew a lot more about her than she even knew herself. But there was only so much she would talk about with him and he figured that Katie might be able to convince her to give it up.

Oddly enough, it worked.

That afternoon, as Jamie waited for Kevin to pick him up, Jane was nowhere to be seen. Even as he left the apartment after receiving Kevin’s text notifying Jamie that he was here, she still didn’t show up. 

Hopping into the car, Jamie looked around the parking lot as if expecting Jane to pop out of nowhere and get in with him.

“Uh, are you okay?” Kevin asked, watching Jamie with a confused look on his face. Jamie turned toward him, mirroring his look but for an entirely different reason.

“Yeah, uh, yeah. It was just that, this morning when I tried to convince Jane to not come with, she wouldn’t back down. I called Katie to see if she could distract her and I haven’t seen Jane since.” Jamie explained, pulling his seatbelt across his chest and turning to face forward. 

“That’s a good thing, isn’t it?” Kevin asked, pulling his fancy sports car out of the parking lot and onto the road. Jamie shrugged, letting out a small laugh as he thought about it.

“I suppose. It’s just very unlike her. She would normally have at least told me she was going to be gone.” Jamie said, glancing at Kevin as he spoke. Kevin shrugged and looked back at him briefly, letting out a small laugh.

“You’re not your managers keeper. Relax! We’re gonna have some fun today!” Kevin exclaimed, pressing his foot to the gas and peeling down the street, making Jamie scream. It took him a second to get used to the sheer speed Kevin was driving at, especially on such a busy road in the middle of the city, but he eventually grew used to the exhilaration. 

When they got to the beach, it was packed. People covered the water and the sand like, well, grains of sand. There had to be thousands of them packed tightly across the shore, a sea of bodies and umbrellas. 

“I knew this would happen.” Kevin muttered, not sounding put off at all. In fact, he let out a small smile as he pulled out of the full parking lot and followed the strip of sand for another mile or two. 

“Where are we going?” Jamie asked, suddenly feeling more nervous. He had been nervous enough spending time alone with Kevin, but now he didn’t even know where they were going. 

“It’s a secret.” Kevin responded, tone coy and flirty. Jamie felt heat rise in his cheeks, hands fidgeting in his lap as he watched the road ahead of them. The further along they got, the less people they saw. Eventually, Kevin pulled into a smaller parking lot that had a couple of empty spots. The beach in front of them wasn’t as attractive and had fewer people. Kevin pulled into a spot and got out, leaving Jamie confused. After a couple of seconds staring dumfounded at the rocky beach, Jamie realized Kevin was gesturing for him to follow. 

Scrambling to get out of the car, realizing he was still buckled in, Jamie followed, slinging his bag hastily over one shoulder and trying not to trip as he followed Kevin across the sand. 

“This is where you wanted to go?” Jamie asked, scanning the beach and observing the sparse beach goers who appeared to be enjoying themselves less than those who had been at the earlier spot. 

“Not exactly.” Kevin continued to be cryptic, shooting Jamie a sly smile before pushing ahead of the smaller man. Jamie stopped for a second, confused and become more nervous the longer they were out, but continued after Kevin, knowing full well he had no way home except in Kevin’s car. 

For several minutes they walked across the beach, away from the other people and the parking lot. They entered a sparse forest with a rocky floor. After walking through it for a while, they came out on the other side to where a beautiful beach sprawled before them. In the distance, Jamie spotted a few umbrellas and a few groups of people in the water in laying on the beach. They were too far away to make out properly, but they seemed to be enjoying themselves. Beyond the people was massive dune that sectioned off this part of beach from the rest. Between the dune and the sparse forest was a large fence, sectioning the beach off from what was probably a parking lot. 

“Wow, this is amazing.” Jamie oohed, looking around at the beautiful blue water and the soft sand. He kicked off his shoes and picked them up, digging his toes into the warm ground. Kevin smiled at him fondly, taking a few steps away from the forest before setting his things down.

“Isn’t it, though? I discovered this spot a couple years ago. It’s nice and quiet and most people who use this part of the beach don’t come all the way over here.” Kevin pointed out, rolling out his towel and slipping his own shoes off. Jamie joined him, laying out his towel and taking a not so graceful seat.

“Why not? It’s so calm over here.” Jamie leaned backward and turned his face toward the sun. He considered the fact that he hadn’t put any sunscreen on yet, but he figured he could take in the sun for just a little longer. 

“It’s too close to the regular beach.” Kevin pointed out, gesturing vaguely to the forest. It was sparse enough to be considered more of a grove, but thick enough that the rest of the beach wasn’t visible on the other side. 

“Regular beach?” Jamie asked, glancing behind him at the forest and then looking out at the people in the distance. Kevin seemed to freeze for a second before laughing nervously. Jamie felt even more anxious, afraid of what he had just gotten himself into.

“Uh, yeah…. This is a, um, a nudist beach.” Kevin explained, cringing before Jamie even reacted. Which was smart, because Jamie wasn’t quiet.

“A what!?” He shot to his feet, turning a billion different shades of pink and red as he looked toward the people in the distance and realized that he couldn’t, in fact, pick out the bright colors of swim suits. Immediately, he ducked his eyes down, as if he could see them all from where they sat.

“Don’t worry! They won’t come over here and you’re not expected to take your clothes off!” Kevin reassured him, waving his hands in surrender, or innocence, and trying to gesture that Jamie sit back down at the same time. Jamie felt hot and sweaty all of a sudden, his nerves getting the better of him as he began to shake.

“Oh-oh gosh! Jamie, I’m sorry! I didn’t realize it would be that bad! We can go! We can, uh, go hang out on the other side of the forest!” Kevin stumbled to his feet and over his words, hands hovering over Jamie’s shoulders as if wanting to comfort him but afraid to touch him. Jamie took a deep breath, closing his eyes and shaking his head.

“N-no. It’s not that big of a deal, it just startled me.” Jamie responded, looking up at Kevin and giving him a shaky smile. Kevin blinked, surprised, his cheeks turning a light shade of pink he hoped desperately wasn’t visible to Jamie. 

“R-right, okay.” He muttered, pulling his hands back and then sitting down again. Jamie joined him, grabbing into his bag for his sunscreen. Kevin did the same, pulling his shirt over his head so he could get his whole torso. 

Jamie attempted not to stare, but Kevin was built in an extremely subtle, but noticeable, way. Whenever Kevin leaned backward or shifted his weight, Jamie could see his abs and the way his back muscles rippled under his dark skin. It was really, really hard not to stare. 

After several minutes of applying sunscreen, the two finally settled, neither looking at the other. When Kevin finally looked up, he noticed Jamie fidgeting with the cap on his sunscreen bottle. 

“Do you…do you want me to get your back for you?” Kevin asked, afraid that he might be overstepping some boundaries by asking. Jamie almost jumped, startled from his thoughts by Kevin’s voice.

“Uh, no, I think I’ll keep my shirt on.” Jamie muttered, not looking up from where his eyes stared at his towel.

For another several minutes, there was complete silence. Kevin knew why he had brought Jamie to this secluded section of beach, but he still wasn’t sure how to start. His life had been a big mess and he had retained a specific personality that had helped him cope with it. 

“My mom….my mom was abusive.” Kevin muttered, pulling his legs up to his chest and hugging them. Jamie’s whipped his head around, eyes wide, pulling some muscle in his neck as he did so. 

“It was more emotional and mental abuse than physical abuse, but it was definitely abusive.” Kevin let out a shaky sigh and Jamie scooted a little bit closer as if trying to comfort Kevin through proximity. 

“She’s always had high expectations for both Kyle and I, but we’ve never been the best at meeting them. She expected us to be A level students from the day we were born but we could never quite do it. Whenever we didn’t do good enough for her, we lost privileges and attention. Sometimes we went without food. Sometimes we had to sleep without our beds. Occasionally she would send us to school with horrible notes in our lunches to remind us how bad we were and that we needed to improve. Needless to say, it was an extremely ineffective parenting style.” Kevin muttered, talking mostly to his knees. 

“We were rarely allowed out with friends. The family computer was restricted unless we got a perfect score on the most recent test in school. We never got dessert and were always required to sit at the table and watch as her and our father ate dessert without us. On weekends, she would lock us in our rooms without food or bathroom privileges until we had fixed everything we had done ‘wrong’ that week.” A tear slipped from Kevin’s eye as he spoke, disappearing with a swipe of his hand as quickly as it appeared. 

“Occasionally we were physically punished, especially when we lashed out. I got the worst of it because my automatic response was to lash out. I fought her tooth and nail and she fought back just as ferociously. When I came out as bi, after I graduated and moved out, she wouldn’t stop texting and calling me to try and convince me that I was wrong and needed to fix myself. Kyle coming out as trans was even worse. The first thing she did when I pointed out that Kyle was her son was slap him. She screamed about how he was ruining the family reputation and that what I had done was bad enough now Kyle had to go around doing-.“ Kevin’s voice cracked and he ducked his head into the space between his knees and his chest. 

For a while the two sat in silence, the only noises coming from the ocean and Kevin’s sobbing. Jamie felt horrible, making him relive these memories. He had been curious to know what made Kevin who he was, and he had gotten his answer. But it may have disabled Kevin for the rest of the day. 

After a while, Jamie scooted a bit closer, afraid to actually touch Kevin but wanting to be as much of a comfort as he could.

“I’m so sorry, Kevin.” He muttered, pulling his legs to his chest as well. “I…. I can’t change what happened and I can’t heal what damage she did but I hope that I can make life a little bit better. I understand now, that your abrasive attitude is just your defense. I get it. You don’t have to change if it makes you feel comfortable.” Jamie glanced warily at Kevin as he spoke, afraid that he might say something wrong.

Kevin went quiet, resting for a second before he lifted his head and looked up at Jamie. His face was wet with tears and his eyes were red and bloodshot, but he had a look of pure determination in his eyes that Jamie had seen countless times before during practice.

“I want to change, Jamie. I’m afraid to become like her.” Kevin pointed out, his tone just as determined as his expression. Jamie shook his head, giving Kevin a small smile.

“You’re nothing like her.” He assured Kevin, hoping to calm the other man down a bit. Kevin shook his head and shifted his position, crossing his legs and sitting up straight. He wiped the tears off his face and looked Jamie directly in the eyes.

“I do to you what she did to me and Kyle. I emotionally manipulate you to the point of breaking and I don’t want to do that anymore.” Kevin insisted, searing hatred in his tone when he said ‘she.’ Jamie’s eyes widened with surprise at the forceful resolve. Slowly, as Kevin continued to stare him down, he realized that Kevin was indirectly asking for his help. Breaking into a grin, Jamie nodded. 

“Okay.” Kevin sniffled as he spoked, wiping his eyes again to make sure he had gotten all the tears. “Okay. Um, we should start working on the dance.” With this, he stood up and the conversation ended.

\----

For several hours after the conversation ended, Jamie and Kevin practiced the dance on the sand. It was a lot more difficult than Jamie was expecting and he couldn’t stop tripping and stumbling over his and Kevin’s feet. Every time he fell into Kevin, the taller man would laugh and Jamie would push away hastily, trying to hide the blush on his face.

When they got hot, the danced in the shallows of the water, right where in the ebb and flow of the water. They would splash with every step and every move, laughing when they got water on each other. This eventually escalated into a splashing contest where they raced into deeper water and tried to see how wet they could get each other. Naturally, both ended up soaked and neither won nor lost. 

By the time the sun started reaching toward the horizon, they were both lazing about on their towels, exhausted from practicing and playing. They eventually decided they needed to get up, though, because they still had a group dance practice to attend for the Spring Break special. 

When they finally got up to leave, as they were trekking through the sparse forest, Kevin bumped into Jamie. At first, Jamie thought it was accidental and he had just lost his balance, but when he looked up at Kevin he was smiling softly and looking off into the distance.

“Thank you.” He whispered, glancing briefly at Jamie before pushing ahead to lead the way. Jamie was glad Kevin couldn’t see his face, because he was lobster red and it wasn’t from any sunburn.

\----

The rest of the week went by in a blur. Jamie and Kevin continued to mess around and joke during practices, much to the entourage’s surprise. Kevin wasn’t nearly as strict about doing only work when they were in the studio and Jamie was more willing to continue practicing when he felt too tired. 

Occasionally, after practices, they would go out to get a coffee and talk for a bit. Jamie learned more about Kevin than he had ever thought he would. He learned that Kevin liked Korean barbeque more than life and that orange cream ice cream was his favorite flavor. Kevin was definitely more of a dog person, though cats and birds were up there on his list of favorite animals to have as pets. When it came to candy he preferred non chocolate candies to chocolate but he would never complain about eating it. 

Jamie enjoyed the time they spent together and was eager to learn more. The longer they practiced together and the more they got to know each other, the easier it got for Kevin to understand Jamie’s anxiety and how to work with Jamie to avoid panic attacks.

By the time their performance rolled around, they were all buddy-buddy and best friends. Kevin nudged Jamie to get his attention instead of talking to him and would randomly wrap his arm around Jamie’s shoulder just for something to lean on. Sometimes he would lean too hard and send both of them sprawling.

When they finally danced their dance, the judges couldn’t get over the thick chemistry they were displaying on the stage. They still pointed out things to improve, but when they got their scores, they were significantly higher than usual. 

As they lounged about after performing, Kevin’s phone vibrated and he lazily checked it. Jamie watched as Kevin’s expression went from chill to concerned in less than a second.

“Are you okay?” Jamie asked, tilting his head slightly to try and make eye contact with Kevin. Kevin grumbled incoherently but looked up after a couple of seconds.

“Lucy just messaged me asking about a plus one. She says she wants to meet my ‘boyfriend.’” Kevin muttered, rubbing a hand down his face as if trying to rub away the fatigue. 

“She does know you’re bi and could have a girlfriend, right?” Jamie asked, feeling a little defensive for Kevin. This earned a laugh from his partner and Kevin shook his head. 

“I may have been talking about you with Kyle and Lucy and Kyle have been best friends since we were young, so…. She might have the wrong idea.” Kevin responded, blushing as he looked away from Jamie. Jamie’s eyes widened in surprise when he realized that Kevin talked about him with his brother. He hadn’t even thought that maybe Kevin talked to his brother on a consistent basis, since Kyle rarely came up in their conversation. 

“Than take me.” Jamie blurted out, not even thinking as the words came out of his mouth. Kevin looked up at him, eyebrows raised in an incredulous expression. Before Kevin could question him, or Jamie could question himself, he repeated what he had said. “Take me as your plus one.” 

“Jamie, my mother is going to be there. You had a hard-enough time handling me when I was a dick, you are not going to be able to avoid a panic attack around her.” Kevin pointed out, showing genuine concern and surprising Jamie when he didn’t object to taking Jamie as his plus one.

“W-well, you can defend me.” Jamie suggested, feeling himself heat up as he realized he was proposing going to Kevin’s cousin’s wedding as his date. Lucy thought Jamie was Kevin’s boyfriend, but neither of them had ever considered they were even more than friends. 

“I dunno, Jamie, I might be too busy defending myself.” Kevin sounded like he really didn’t like the idea of Jamie coming. Jamie sniffed and stuck his nose into the air, trying to play off and offended look.

“Fine, if you don’t want me to come than I won’t go.” He stated in an offended tone. Kevin tried not to laugh, shaking his head at Jamie’s game. Kevin had learned to tell the difference between Jamie’s acting and Jamie’s joking.

“I do want you to come, Jamie. I just don’t want to subject you to…that.” He responded, reaching out a hand and resting it on Jamie’s. Jamie immediately lost his composure, turning a bright shade of red and looking down at Kevin’s hand on his. He looked up at Kevin, who looked a little redder but not nearly as flustered as Jamie felt. Slowly, Kevin curled his fingers between Jamie’s and squeezed.

“I…I want to meet Lucy and Kyle. If that means bumping into the fire breathing dragon herself, so be it.” Jamie stuttered, trying to swallow passed a stone that had seemed to form in his throat. Kevin smiled softly and nodded.

“Okay. You can be my plus one.” With that, the crowd cheered loudly and the stage crew came over to tell Jamie and Kevin they had to get ready for the announcement of who was on the elimination block. Kevin held Jamie’s hand the whole way and Jamie had a very hard time holding a straight smile, attempting to not look as flustered as he felt. When they were saved from the elimination block, Jamie and Kevin flung themselves at each other and actually cried tears of joy. 

Backstage, where no one could see, and where it was the quietest, Kevin kissed Jamie softly on the lips.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Time: Jamie's hips don't lie!


	8. Week 7 - Eras Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jamie confronts Kevin about the kiss and they dance the Charleston and cha-cha.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shorter chapter. Hope you enjoy!

It was almost as if the kiss never happened.

Jamie arrived to practice the next day floating on a cloud. Life could not have been any better. Kevin had kissed him and agreed to take Jamie as his plus one to his cousin’s wedding. On top of that, Kevin had finally trusted Jamie enough to tell him why he was such a dick. Jamie was stuck in an almost permanent state of euphoria and he was pretty sure nothing was going to take him out of it.

And then he arrived to practice.

He found Kevin sitting on the floor, stretching as usual. Nonchalantly he dropped his bag by Kevin’s and sauntered over to him. Lazily he leaned against Kevin, faking a yawn as he did so and giving him the cheesiest grin he could muster. 

“Morning, sunshine.” Jamie greeted Kevin, unable to see his expression as he was being pressed into his own thighs. 

“Jamie, get off. This hurts.” Kevin muttered, clearly unamused by Jamie’s antics. Jamie obliged, not willing to make his own mood worse by making Kevin mad at him. As Jamie got off, Kevin pulled into a seated position and then rose to his feet. Jamie grinned like an idiot as Kevin stood, taking a step closer to Jamie as he did so. They almost stood chest to chest and Jamie was pretty sure he was going to faint from the proximity. 

“You need to stretch.” Kevin muttered, stepping away from Jamie to go get something from his bag. Jamie immediately deflated, watching as Kevin reached into his bag and grabbed his phone. Dejected, he began his stretches as Kevin typed something into his phone. What was wrong with him? Had he forgotten the kiss the previous night? Jamie found that hard to believe, as the kiss was the only thing currently on his mind. Still, he did as he was told and stretched, having learned the importance of getting in as much practice as possible.

When he had finished, Kevin turned away from his phone and rejoined him.

“Okay, so, we’re doing a 20’s Charleston this week. It’s going to be a bit harder since you’re not so good at being light on your feet.” Kevin explained, getting right into the business. Jamie felt hurt, flinching slightly at the shot Kevin took at him.

“Kevin….” Jamie started to talk but wasn’t sure where he wanted to go. Kevin let out a sigh and rubbed a hand down his face. 

“Right, sorry. Um, we’re going to work on being light on our feet today, so that we can do the best Charleston this week.” Kevin rephrased his statement but Jamie continued to feel hurt. Kevin wasn’t talking to him. He had finally opened up but now he was shutting Jamie out again and it hurt.

“That’s not what I meant-“ Jamie started, ready to confront Kevin right then and there. He was cut off, however, when Kevin grabbed his hands and pulled him into the proper pose. 

“Later, Jamie, right now we need to work.” Kevin insisted, not making eye contact as he showed Jamie the steps to start off the dance. 

The rest of practice was filled with silence except when Kevin gave Jamie pointers and counted the steps out loud. Jamie listened and followed along, but occasionally he would shoot desperate looks toward Kevin to try and get his attention. None of this worked, no matter how hard he tried. 

By the time practice had ended, Kevin had made eye contact a grand total of one time and was already on his way out, not even giving Jamie a passing glance.

“Kevin.” Jamie called as Kevin shoved his things into his bag and headed toward the door. When he didn’t turn around, Jamie headed toward him at full steam. “Kevin, we need to talk.” Jamie insisted, grabbing Kevin by the arm. Kevin finally stopped but didn’t turn around immediately. 

“Kevin, why won’t you look at me? Is this about the kiss?” He asked, tugging lightly on Kevin’s arm to encourage him to turn around. 

Kevin spun on him, his expression a mixture between fury and worry. Before Jamie could say anything, Kevin turned toward the camera crew and pointed a finger at them.

“Stay.” He commanded, before whipping around and dragging Jamie out the door with him. They made their way down the hallway at a rapid pace. Jamie tripped and stumbled after him, just barely able to keep up as Kevin entered a room and practically flung him inside, shutting the door behind them. 

“Don’t bring that kind of stuff up in front of the camera crew! They’re instructed to be nosy about everything, even if they don’t want to.” Kevin hissed, checking the knob to see if it could lock. Disappointed that it didn’t, he turned around swiftly to find Jamie fidgeting with the hem of his shirt and looking almost on the verge of tears.

“Ugh, shit, I’m sorry, Jamie. I’m trying, I really am. It’s hard, though. I’ve lived this way my whole life and I’m just not used to being a good person.” Kevin muttered, leaning against the door and dropping his face into his hands.

Jamie hesitated, wanting to approach Kevin but afraid of the repercussions. After a few seconds, he finally decided in favor of comforting Kevin. Slowly he approached, resting a hand on Kevin’s shoulder when he was close enough.

Kevin removed his hands from his face to find Jamie looking directly at him, his expression wary but kind.

“You are a good person, Kevin. Change is hard but you’re actually trying, that’s what makes you a good person.” Jamie explained, his voice a bit shaky but otherwise reassuring. 

“I just…. I just hate seeing you upset.” Kevin muttered, eyes avoiding looking at Jamie. Jamie shook his head and let out a small laugh.

“It’s not going to be immediate, but you’re doing a good job.” Jamie responded, smiling fondly at Kevin as he spoke. He was glad to see Kevin look up again and lock eyes with him. For a moment they stood like this, eyes locked, Jamie’s hand on Kevin’s shoulder. Hesitantly, Jamie lifted a hand to Kevin’s cheek, brushing away a small lock of hair from the corner of Kevin’s eyes. It was so intimate and yet so comfortable, something straight out of one of the movies Jamie was used to starring in. Yet, it was so different than acting. It was real. Jamie leaned in, hoping for another kiss, when Kevin broke away and stumbled back. 

“Um, uh, sorry. I…. I don’t think I’m ready for this.” Kevin muttered, hand covering his mouth as he crossed part of the room, back still facing Jamie. Jamie stood, frozen, watching Kevin’s back as the taller man hugged his arms across himself. Jamie felt horrible. He hadn’t actually gotten a response about why Kevin was acting so weird and had just assumed the whole thing had been resolved. 

“No, I’m sorry. I didn’t ask if it was okay.” Jamie said, slowly walking up behind Kevin, afraid to touch him after what had just happened. Kevin turned around, sort of slowly, and faced Jamie. He looked worried and kind of…afraid. 

“I don’t know if I’m ready for this, Jamie. I’ve lived my whole life as an unworthy person. You’re so amazing and perfect, I just don’t think I’m ready to treat you the way you deserve to be treated.” Kevin admitted, avoiding eye contact as he spoke. He was so vulnerable, so exposed. Jamie felt his heart aching as he watched this beautiful man fall apart.

“Kevin, I’m nowhere near perfect. I mean, look at me! I have social anxiety! I’m literally shaking as we speak and would have already been on the floor if I were in your shoes.” Jamie started, throwing his arms out to emphasize himself when he said ‘look.’ “You’re absolutely amazing, trying so hard to be good enough for me. Just by trying, you’re good enough for me, Kevin. I don’t need a Mr. Perfect, I need a Mr. Right and Kevin, I think-“ Jamie stopped, looking down at his feet as he realized what he was saying. Did he really mean this? Letting out the biggest, goofiest grin as his heart swelled, Jamie looked back up, “I think you’re Mr. Right.” He felt so overwhelmed with happiness he couldn’t contain a couple of tears that broke the surface.

Kevin smiled back but looked down at the ground after a few seconds.

“I don’t know, Jamie. I don’t feel like I can do this. Not yet, anyway.” He muttered, avoiding looking at Jamie as he spoke. There was a moment of silence as Jamie sniffled slightly and came closer to Kevin. He pressed his fingers gently under Kevin’s chin, coaxing his gaze upward.

“Okay. I can understand that. Just let me help however I can.” Jamie said, expression gentle and caring. Kevin smiled slightly and nodded, nudging Jamie’s fingers away as he did so. 

“Thanks.” Kevin muttered, soft but genuine. Jamie responded with a smile, ready to help however he could.

\----

The next day at practice was a little less awkward. They spoke openly to each other and Kevin made sure to watch himself carefully. Jamie gave him pointers on how to he might better phrase his sentences to sound less mean all the time and Kevin actively tried to apply these lessons. Dr. Billin insisted he didn’t need to come back anymore and encouraged Katie and Jane to stay back as well.

This was a fight that Jane wasn’t going to lose, so she continued to show up at practices to keep an eye on Kevin. Jamie didn’t mind this, not too much anyway. Occasionally Katie would come back as well. On those days, Jamie didn’t feel like he was being watched by a hawk. Katie kept Jane distracted and the atmosphere less tense.

On Friday, Jane didn’t show up at all. Jamie had left the apartment at the same time as usual and she was nowhere to be found. 

When he arrived at the studio, he found only Kevin there. Neither Katie nor Jane were anywhere. He approached Kevin, beginning his stretches as he scanned the empty studio. It was still packed with a whole camera crew alongside him and Kevin, but it felt empty without the hawk and the bodyguard. 

“Where’s Jane?” Kevin asked, pushing himself to his feet as he finished his stretches. Jamie shrugged, an awkward thing to do when trying to stretch simultaneously. 

“I don’t know. She wasn’t in the apartment this morning and she’s obviously not here.” Jamie commented, silently cursing himself for pointing out the obvious. Kevin didn’t seem to mind but smiled slightly. 

“How much you wanna bet she’s on a date?” Kevin asked, grinning slyly as he poked Jamie in the chest to try and knock him over. Having horrible balance, Kevin’s poke succeeded and Jamie had to drop the stretch to keep himself from falling. Shooting Kevin a teasing, nasty look, he shook his head.

“I don’t think so. Jane hasn’t mentioned any interest in anybody.” Jamie pointed out. Jane was his best friend and usually told him about everything. He hadn’t heard a word about a potential crush or anything like that.

“She doesn’t have to mention it, it’s kind of obvious.” Kevin muttered, threatening to push Jamie over again as he resumed his stretches. Jamie gave him a confused look and Kevin’s expression turned to incredulousness. “Seriously?” He asked, eyebrows rising and smile getting bigger. 

“Seriously, what? I haven’t noticed her show any interest in anyone.” Jamie responded, his quizzical expression deepening when Kevin burst into laughter. For a second, Jamie stood in his stretch pose, waiting for Kevin to stop laughing an explain what was so funny. 

“For a romance fanatic you’re really thick.” Kevin finally uttered some words, still breathing hard from all the laughing. Jamie rolled his eyes, finally changing stretches. 

“Whatever, just spit it out.” Jamie grumbled, trying his hardest not to be too mad at Kevin. He was just making light. 

“You ever notice how she doesn’t even seem to acknowledge our existence whenever Katie’s around?” Kevin explained, making a funny expression Jamie couldn’t quite interpret. Was is supposed to be sly? Kevin’s eyes looked extremely sexy when he raised his eyebrows in that way.

“Yeah, so? I figured she was just enjoying the company of a…friend.” Jamie dropped the pose he was in as he realized what he had done. Immediately he dropped his face into his hands and screamed at his own stupidity. 

“Jamie, did you just assume?” Kevin asked, gasping sarcastically and trying not to laugh. Jamie groaned and removed his face from his hands.

“I just assumed that Jane was straight.” Jamie confirmed Kevin’s implied suspicion and Kevin broke into more laughter. He tried to clear his throat and put on a straight face, but it was difficult when he thought Jamie’s thick-headedness was so hilarious.

“How dare you assume something such as that. How can you call yourself a member of the LGBT community?” Kevin teased, nudging Jamie lightly as he said it. Jamie groaned again, throwing his head back and silently screaming into the heavens.

“Look, I’m sure it’s okay. Just ask her about it later, I bet she’s dying to tell you.” Kevin pointed out, grabbing Jamie’s hand and dragging him into the center of the floor. “Now, c’mon. We need to get some practicing done.” Kevin made Jamie take the dancing pose and Jamie reluctantly followed as they practiced the dance.

\----

Later that night, Jamie sat up watching a new rom com he had found when Jane came home. He did as Kevin suggested and asked her about it. Getting to bed at two in the morning is not the best idea when you have rehearsals the next day, but Jamie was glad he could learn more about Jane.

\----

The night of performance had become a rather uneventful concept for Jamie. He was still nervous to perform, sure, but he rarely become nervous until just before their dance. As he and Kevin waited their turns, they lounged about with the rest of the dancers and talked. 

As he and Kevin made their way backstage to perform, a thought came to mind.

“Hey, when is the wedding?” He asked, realizing he hadn’t asked before when he had agreed to be Kevin’s plus one. Kevin looked startled and surprised that Jamie would ask that all of a sudden. 

“Uh, I think it’s next week? It might be two weeks from now.” Kevin muttered, clearly thinking hard about this. Jamie slugged Kevin in the shoulder, making him flinch and look clearly hurt.

“How do you not even remember the date of the wedding? I would have liked more than a week’s notice!” Jamie whisper shouted, starting to feel a bit panicked about not having enough time to mentally prepare for a run in with Kevin’s mom.

“Hey, hey, Jamie, it’ll be fine. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner. I’ll double check the invitation when I get home tonight and text you, okay? If you need any help preparing, I’m more than willing.” Kevin assured Jamie, grabbing him by the shoulders and looking into his eyes as he said this. Jamie nodded, breathing rapidly but trying to calm down. 

He didn’t get too long as they were called on stage to dance only a few minutes later. Kevin shook his shoulders and made a funny face, making Jamie laugh before the music started. He was pleased to make it all the way through the dance without tripping too much, but they didn’t get the best score and were not saved from elimination. 

The special theme for the dances was eras, but the night was further complicated by dance-offs between the couples that were not saved from elimination. Jamie and Kevin knew they were going to have to do a dance off but were thrilled to get to choose the dance, as they were the lower scoring couple. 

The two couples competed in a cha-cha off and all the judges chose Jamie and Kevin, giving raving reviews about how wonderfully Jamie moved to the music. As they walked backstage to wait for the other couples to dance off, Kevin grabbed Jamie by the hips and dragged him in.

“I love your hips so much.” Kevin muttered, eyeing Jamie’s lower torso as he spoke. Turning about a billion different shades of red, Jamie coaxed Kevin’s eyes toward his face. 

“My eyes are up here, sweetheart, and you can’t say that. It’s sexual harassment.” Jamie teased, trying to remain cool as he spoke. Kevin whimpered, but couldn’t resist a small smile. 

“Right, well, we should get going.” He continued to pretend to pout, but Jamie knew he was enjoying himself. Because of the points they got in their dance off and the votes by Jamie’s fanbase, they remined off the elimination block and in safe waters.

Now all Jamie had to do was prepare to meet Kevin’s family. This would have been no problem if it didn’t include his mom.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Time: America's Choice


	9. Week 8 - Contemporary

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> America picks contemporary for Jamie and Kevin to dance this week. How will they pull it off?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one's really short, but the next chapter is going to be much longer! Enjoy!

“We’re dancing what?” Jamie asked, staring straight at Kevin as the other man avoided his gaze. Kevin sighed, nodding his head and rubbing the back of his neck. Jamie had never seen Kevin so worried, he was usually rather chill or angry. But the way Kevin avoided Jamie’s eyes and shuffled from one foot to the other told Jamie that this was not something Kevin wanted to do.

“We’re dancing contemporary. This week is America’s choice and they chose contemporary for us.” Kevin repeated, his voice at a lower volume than usual. Jamie knew what contemporary was, he’d seen plenty of seasons of Dancing With the Stars to know what it looked like. But he had hoped that maybe, just maybe, he would get away with not having to dance it at all.

Yet, here they were.

“We can do this.” Jamie muttered, feeling himself get pumped as he said it. “Y-yeah, we can do this! It can’t be that hard?” He exclaimed, coming up closer to Kevin and grabbing him by the shoulders. Kevin finally looked up and locked eyes with Jamie, the worry written on his face in the fine lines etched into his forehead.

“Jamie, I’m awful at contemporary. Every time I’ve done it in the past, we got the lowest score. We’re already in pretty rough waters from all the low scores we’ve gotten in the last several weeks, another one could end us, especially this close to the end.” Kevin explained, the concern in his voice rising as he spoke. Jamie felt this worry rub off on him, but he didn’t want to trigger his anxiety so he took a deep breath and tried for a smile.

“We’ve got this! Maybe…. maybe if we make it personal it’ll be easier to do.” Jamie suggested, feeling a slight bit of fear at suggesting this. He was usually honest with his fans, but he rarely showed any side of himself other than the happy, healthy one. Kevin, Jane, and Dr. Billin were the only three people who had ever seen Jamie break down. No one else knew.

“Personal? Personal how?” Kevin asked, his brow knit more in confusion than worry now. Jamie took a deep breath, hoping Kevin didn’t notice how shaky it was. How shaky he was.

“We could make it like a representation of…of my anxiety.” Jamie offered, afraid his smile was going to falter and Kevin would see beyond his wall. Unfortunately, Jamie’s wall didn’t need to falter for Kevin to see right through him.

“Jamie, I don’t want to push you.” Kevin’s voice was soft as Jamie felt the panic well up just a bit too much and tears surfaced. Kevin gently rested his hands on the sides of Jamie’s face and gave him a soft, reassuring smile.

“N-no, I want to do this. This could be my way of embracing it, admitting to it, and moving on from it. It’s a part of me but… but it doesn’t have to control me.” Jamie said, feeling empowered as he explained this to Kevin. Kevin swiped a thumb across the trail of tears on Jamie’s cheek and his smile grew.

“Then we can make it about my childhood, as well.” Kevin decided, causing Jamie to gasp from surprise.

“But, Kevin-“

“No, you’re right. It’s a part of me, but it’s got no control over me.” Kevin admitted, feeling tears well up in his own eyes. Jamie nodded, smiling broadly at Kevin as he did. Without warning, Kevin closed the distance between them and embraced Jamie. It took him a second to register what had happened, but when he did, Jamie wrapped his arms tightly around Kevin. 

They were both going to need each other’s support for this.

\----

In order for Kevin to choreograph a dance about Jamie’s anxiety, Kevin had to learn more about Jamie’s anxiety. After practice on the first day, Kevin tagged along with Jamie back to his apartment to discuss it. Kevin was worried the whole way there, afraid that Jane would be there ready to chew him out. 

As they ascended the stairs, Kevin’s palms became sweatier and his worry increased. By the time they finally reached the door, Kevin was panting. Jamie didn’t seem to notice, as he slipped the key into the lock and opened the door as if nothing was wrong. 

As soon as they stepped inside, Kevin felt relaxed. There was no sign Jane was there. He let out a loud sigh of relief, getting Jamie’s attention as he fell onto the couch.

“Are you okay?” Jamie asked, coming to sit next to him, just on the edge of the cushion. Kevin nodded and let out a shaky laugh.

“Yeah, I was just afraid Jane was going to be over.” Kevin responded, avoiding looking over at Jamie. 

“Would you say you were anxious?” Jamie asked, finally catching Kevin’s attention. Kevin’s head whipped toward Jamie, his eyes wide as he looked at his partner’s knowing expression. 

“Uh, yeah, I guess. It’s stupid, though.” Kevin muttered, turning away and feeling himself heat up a bit. Jamie made a small, knowing sound as he stood and headed toward the kitchen.

“It’s not stupid, Kevin. It’s natural. Your anxiety levels were heightened because you were approaching a situation that had the potential to create negative feelings. That’s usually how anxiety works, but it’s worse when the situation is one you’ve experienced too many times before.” Jamie explained, starting something in the kitchen as he spoke. Kevin realized that Jamie was starting his explanation of anxiety without warning. Sitting up a bit, he watched Jamie from the couch.

“So…this is kind of how you feel when you start to panic?” Kevin asked, leaning forward a bit as Jamie disappeared behind a wall before coming back again. 

“Probably. I can’t feel what you felt, Kevin, but you looked like you were feeling what I feel. Though not as bad as I get it sometimes.” Jamie responded, the sounds of dishes clinking together coming from the kitchen as background noise.

Kevin nodded, looking toward the TV sitting across the room from him as he thought. It felt chaotic and confusing, frightening and frustrating, all at once. Kevin had felt anxious before, but it seemed to be worse when he was about to interact with someone he didn’t like interacting with. Jane wasn’t a bad person, Jamie had good taste, but Kevin had never been on her good side and he was always afraid of talking to her. 

As he sat deep in thought, Jamie finished what he was doing in the kitchen and came out with two cups and a plate of crackers and cheese. Kevin took one of the mugs from Jamie and sniffed the warm aroma of tea, cracking a grin as he did so.

“Are you seriously serving me tea and crackers? It’s like you stepped out of an old film.” Kevin laughed, blowing on his tea to cool it off. It was too warm to be drinking tea, but Kevin thought it was sweet that Jamie considered serving him anything. 

“Uh, yeah. It’s just…. they’re the easiest things I have to prepare.” Jamie responded, looking a bit sheepish as he set the plate down on the coffee table in the middle of the room. Kevin took a sip of his tea and leaned back into the couch.

“You’re good, it’s kinda cute, is all.” Kevin said, shooting Jamie a sly grin when he turned around to look at Kevin. His face immediately took on a few different shades of pink and Kevin’s smile grew larger.

“S-so, aren’t we gonna discuss my anxiety?” Jamie asked, holding his cup in both hands like he was cold and it was warming him. The AC in his apartment was nice, but not that nice. 

“Party pooper.” Kevin muttered, taking another sip of his tea. Jamie gave him a shaky smile before pressing his lips to his own cup and scooting backward, further into the couch. For a moment, there was complete silence as the two sipped their tea and tried to think of how to start the conversation. 

“So, how do you think your anxiety might look in a dance?” Kevin asked, hoping to get the talking started. He needed to have the dance planned soon or they wouldn’t be able to learn it in time. Jamie shrugged and took a shaky breath.

“I dunno, I’ve never thought about it.” Jamie responded, talking into his tea instead of looking at Kevin.

“Well, try to picture it. Maybe close your eyes?” Kevin suggested, sitting up a little bit and hoping that Jamie might look in his direction. Jamie nodded and closed his eyes, pressing his lips to the edge of his cup as if it might help him imagine it.

They sat like this for a moment, Kevin watching Jamie think, the only sounds coming from the cars driving by outside. 

“It’s…suffocating. Like I’m drowning. I have a hard time standing when it’s around, my entire body just goes weak. I can’t stand, though I try to fight it. Sometimes I don’t fight it and just give in. The only times I can truly escape it are when Jane’s here. She knows how to get me out of it.” Jamie explained, slowly opening his eyes when he finished. Kevin had been enraptured, watching Jamie talk in a low volume, nearly a whisper. “And recently, you’ve been a big help too.” 

Kevin felt overwhelmed with emotion and had to hold back tears. He didn’t want to look as if this affected him. His silence dragged on for too long and Jamie started to look concerned. 

“Kevin, are you okay?” Jamie asked, scooting just a little closer and resting a gentle hand on Kevin’s shoulder. Kevin smiled, feeling the tears break the surface. He tried to wipe them away before Jamie noticed, but he wasn’t fast enough.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Kevin responded, giving Jamie a big smile. Luckily, he didn’t have to fake the smile because just the knowledge alone that Jamie trusted him was enough to make him happy.

“Are you sure?” Jamie asked, his concern making his eyebrows crease in a manner that was actually kind of cute. 

“Yeah, Jamie. I’m great. It’s really nice to hear that I mean that much to you.” Kevin explained, realizing how much he had needed to feel needed. Kyle had grown up and no longer needed Kevin as much as he had used to. Having Jamie around was amazing. He was a strong person, but when he was having trouble, Kevin enjoyed being able to help him. It had been a learning process, but it was really nice. 

“Of course, Kevin. You’ve been amazing these last couple of months.” Jamie said, giving Kevin a gentle smile. Kevin wanted so badly to kiss those lips, to let Jamie know he loved him, to feel Jamie’s touch. Jamie moved his hand from Kevin’s shoulder to reach for a cracker and Kevin felt himself leaning forward slightly, chasing the touch. 

He was such a mess.

“Well, if I’m going to continue being amazing, I need to choreograph a really depressing dance.” Kevin said, standing quickly before he tried to get Jamie’s touch back. It was fine, he didn’t need it. He hadn’t needed touch his whole life, so he could live without it for a little longer.

“You weren’t here for very long.” Jamie sounded disappointed that Kevin was going and it took all of Kevin’s willpower to avoid sitting back down. 

“Yeah, sorry, but dances take a lot of time to plan.” Kevin admitted. He wasn’t lying, it really took him a long time to plan dances and he needed this one most of the way planned so they could work on it as soon as possible.

“Okay, well, see you tomorrow then.” Jamie said, standing and escorting Kevin toward the door, which wasn’t very far away. They awkwardly said goodbye at the door before Kevin let himself out and Jamie closed it behind him.

\----

The rest of the week passed in a blur. Jamie had a hard time remembering much, though he distinctly remembered waking up almost every morning with a headache. 

They would practice the dance – Kevin chose a good song to dance to – and Jamie would feel the power and meaning behind it. It wasn’t uncommon for him to break down in tears halfway through practice. Kevin would gently tell him it was alright – through tears of his own – but that they needed to move on in order to finish the dance in time.

It felt like slow going, but they had the dance completely learned by dress rehearsal. They managed to bring tears to the eyes of some of the crew members helping out with the lighting and sound. They felt emotionally drained by the end of the week, but Jamie was really glad when performance day finally came.

They were one of the last couples to go, but this didn’t seem to phase either of them. They lounged about the balcony the whole night, watching and cheering on the other couples and mingling with the others who weren’t performing. Jamie felt more relaxed than ever, but he knew what was coming and was conserving his emotional energy. 

When they finally did perform, Jamie found himself crying by the time they had finished. He noticed that Kevin, too, was crying. He grabbed Kevin’s face and turned it toward his own. Shock registered for a second before Jamie gave Kevin a massive grin and hugged him. The crowd still hadn’t stopped cheering, but Jamie felt Kevin’s arms wrap around him.

The judges praised them for the heavy emotions that the dance provoked. Kevin had designed the dance to show the two of them coming out of their ruts. Somehow, one of the judges commented, Kevin had managed to fit a whole transformation story into a single, short dance. 

They got amazing scores and were saved from elimination for the night. Everyone they came into contact with complimented them on their dance. Somehow, most of the people watching had related to it. Jamie was more than glad when the night was over and they headed out to their cars. 

In the quiet, almost empty parking lot, Kevin stopped Jamie near the door and stepped off to the side. Jamie wasn’t worried at all, though he was hoping Kevin would kiss him. Instead, Kevin asked him a question he didn’t know he was going to dread hearing.

“You ready for tomorrow?” Kevin asked. Jamie thought for a second. They had practice tomorrow, what else could be happening on a Monday that Kevin would ask him if he was ready for? Then it hit him.

“The wedding’s tomorrow.” Jamie realized, his voice barely a whisper as he slowly began to panic. Any social event would have only induced minor anxiety, but Jamie was meeting Kevin’s mother – probably also his father – and he knew how horrible she was. He had been worrying the whole week about the dance, he had completely forgotten.

“Hey, hey, Jamie. It’s okay. You can change your mind, you know?” Kevin was whispering, brushing tears off Jamie’s cheek Jamie hadn’t even realized were there. He looked up at Kevin, soft eyes betraying a bit of worry.

“No. I’m not abandoning you.” Jamie insisted, voice still quiet as he said it. Kevin laughed and shook his head. 

“You wouldn’t be abandoning me, I have to go anyway.” Kevin responded. Jamie shook his head and grabbed Kevin’s head. Kevin’s face took on a shocked expression, akin to the one after the dance.

“I’m going, Kevin.” Jamie said, voice firm and resolute. Kevin smiled and nodded. He grabbed Jamie’s face – arms awkwardly entwined with Jamie’s – and pulled him in for a gentle kiss. 

“Okay. Thank you.” He whispered, giving Jamie another soft kiss, and then another. It wasn’t until Jamie’s phone went off that they realized they had been making out for an entire half hour. Reluctantly, they parted ways. Jamie watched as Kevin pulled out of the parking lot, fear and anxiety reaching out to grip his heart. He could do this. 

Right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Time: The wedding!


	10. The Wedding

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jamie attends Kevin's cousin's wedding as his plus one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ho boy, this is a long one. 
> 
> So, there's a section with some homophobia/transphobia. If you want to skip it stop at "Mother, I see you've met my date" and start back up at "Let's go, Lewis." 
> 
> Also, they get a bit sexy but nothing explicit happens. If you want to skip this stop at "Oh shoot". It kind of goes to the end of the chapter.

Jamie didn’t sleep. He couldn’t, not with his thoughts racing five million miles a second at the thought of meeting Kevin’s mom. Maybe she wouldn’t be as bad as she sounded? Maybe she’d bite his head off and he wouldn’t have to deal with her at all? 

No, that was stupid.

When his alarm finally went off, he was half dozing with his head against the wall, sitting up on his bed. The sound of his phone going off was so loud he literally jumped a couple inches off the bed in surprise. When he finally got over the shock – though he would definitely be shaking for the next several minutes from the rude awakening – he pressed the off button and rolled toward the edge of his bed. 

Every light he turned on was another shock, yet nothing seemed to scare away the absolute exhaustion that had taken over his body at five that morning. He heard the front door slam shut as he washed his face with the hopes that the cold water might wake him up. As he dried himself, there came a knock at the bathroom door. Opening it, Jamie found Jane standing in the hallway, a massive grin on her face.

It dropped almost immediately.

“You look awful.” Jane pointed out, her skills of deduction truly a mystery. 

“Thanks, I didn’t get much sleep last night.” Jamie responded, opening the medicine cabinet to grab his toothbrush and toothpaste. 

“You know, you don’t have to go to this thing?” Jane said, placing a hand gently on Jamie’s shoulder. He turned to look at her and let out a sigh.

“I know, but I promised Kevin. Besides, exposure therapy.” He gave her a weak smile as he said this, earning a light chuckle as she removed her hand.

“Right, anyway. Have you had breakfast yet?” She asked, gesturing toward his toothbrush as he struggled to pop open the toothpaste’s cap. Jamie grunted and shook his head.

“Shouldn’t you, I don’t know, eat something before you go to a wedding? These things can be pretty lengthy before you get to the food.” Jane pointed out, grabbing the toothpaste from Jamie and opening it for him. He gave her a look he hoped was annoyed, but was likely just tired indifference. 

“I’m afraid nothing will stay down.” Jamie muttered in response, putting toothpaste on the brush and sticking it in his mouth. Jane rolled her eyes and leaned against the door frame, ready to stay a while. 

“You need to eat something. I’ll take you out, maybe the smell of something good will scare away the nausea.” Jane offered. Jamie grunted, unable to respond with his mouth full of foam. There was a small moment of silence as he finished brushing his teeth and then spit out the foam.

“Jane, it’s fine. I can handle it.” He said, washing off his toothbrush and shoving it back into its drawer. “Besides, I need to get ready.” He turned to leave the bathroom but found he was blocked by Jane, her body keeping him from exiting. In any other state, he would have pushed passed her, but he knew how strong she was and he wasn’t feeling it.

“No, you can’t handle it. No one can handle going without food for that long. Besides, you don’t need to start getting ready yet.” She responded, giving him a defiant look. When Jane had her mind set on something, it was very unlikely that she would back down.

“I don’t want to be late.” Jamie said, feeling a little antsy and anxious that she wasn’t letting him get ready. 

“Jamie, when’s the ceremony?” She asked, giving him and incredulous look.

“Eleven.” 

“What time is it now?”

There was a pause.

“Eight.” Jamie muttered reluctantly, immediately knowing what her argument was going to be. 

“You have plenty of time. C’mon, get dressed, we’re going out for breakfast.” With that, Jane turned from the doorway and disappeared into the living room. Jamie knew he wasn’t going to be able to fight her mentally as well as physically, so he trudged to his room and slipped on a pair of jeans and some shoes. 

Jane apparently hadn’t had anything fancy in mind for breakfast, as she took him to a McDonald’s. They ordered their food and sat in a small booth near the back. Jamie rested his elbow against the table and leaned against his hand, eyelids flickering open and closed as he tried to keep from falling asleep.

“Geez, kid, you look horrible.” Jane muttered, pressing her hand under his chin to get a better look at his face. Jamie didn’t fight her, looking up as her hand encouraged him to.

“I think we already established this.” Jamie muttered, not exactly in the mood to have a deep conversation with Jane. Based on the look on her face, this conversation was going to happen no matter what he felt.

“Yeah, but Jamie, this isn’t good. If you’re this tired, you shouldn’t be going to the wedding.” Jane pointed out, turning his head slightly as if examining every inch of his face. He imagined he looked as tired as he felt, but eventually got tired of her looking him over and swatted her hand away. 

“I know, Jane, I just….” Jamie paused, unsure where he was going with this. “I just want to help Kevin out. His mom sounds like a monster and if Kevin goes alone, Kyle will be the brunt of her fury for the day. If I tag along, maybe Kevin and I can share the load.”

Jane rolled her eyes and let out a disgruntled huff. “Kid, your anxiety kept you up all night with the thought of just seeing this woman, imagine how things are going to go once she actually starts talking to you.” Jamie held back a whimper, because he was very much aware of how his anxiety would react in his currently exhausted state.

“I know, Jane, but I just…. I would feel really bad if I didn’t go.” He muttered, staring down at the warm food on the tray before him. Nothing about it seemed appealing, even the warmth wafting toward his face and the gooey scent of syrup coming from the sandwich. 

“Jamie, you’re not obligated to go. Kevin will understand.” This had been her argument since she found out Jamie was going as Kevin’s plus one to his cousin’s wedding. Jane no longer seemed adamant to keep Kevin away from Jamie because she didn’t like him, but now her tone was very clearly concern about his wellbeing.

“You keep saying that Jane but…. I really like Kevin and I don’t want to let him down.” Jamie ducked his head toward his food, avoiding looking up at Jane as he spoke. He had never admitted out loud to anyone, not even Kevin, that he liked Kevin. He’d been concerned about the repercussions of admitting this, but there was silence from Jane’s end.

“I can’t stop you from going, Jamie. I just want you to be safe.” Jane spoke softly, her tone still concerned but with a touch of fondness. When Jamie looked up, she was giving him that know-it-all look of hers. He felt heat rise to his cheeks as he realized why she was giving him that look. Jane no longer objected to Kevin and this was basically her giving him permission to date Kevin. Not that he needed it, but Jane’s opinion mattered to Jamie and he was glad he finally had her blessing.

“Thanks, Jane. I promise to check in with you whenever I can and call you if I feel like things are going south.” Jamie gave her a smile as he said this, glad to finally have her approval. He loved her so much, but he also really liked Kevin and he wasn’t sure he would have been able to choose.

“Good. Now, eat up. We don’t want you starving.” Jane ordered, unwrapping her sandwich and taking a massive bite.

It took Jamie a little bit longer to eat his own food, as his gag reflex kept acting up when he tried to swallow. Eventually, he managed to force most of it down. Enough, at least, to keep him from starving. Luckily, as they headed back to his apartment, he didn’t feel like any of it would come back up, which was a good thing.

When they got back, Jamie slipped into the suit he usually wore for movie premiers. It was rather nice and hardly ever worn, so it looked brand new. He had other suits, but those weren’t as nice. Jane ran to the store while he was getting ready to grab a few things to help him get ready. He had no idea what else he needed to look nice, so long as his hair stayed in place and his suit didn’t get a stain. 

Jane returned as he was pacing the living room, socked feet shuffling against the floor. He was fussing with his cuffs, attempting to right them so they looked their best when she walked back in.

“To the bathroom.” She ordered, turning him around and pushing him along with her hands on his shoulders. Jamie didn’t fight her, but she didn’t stop pushing him. When they finally got into the bathroom, Jane pulled makeup from the bag she was carrying and began unwrapping the plastic covering it.

“Why do I need that?” Jamie asked, watching her finish opening her purchases. He had worn makeup before, they put it on him all the time in movies to make his skin as clear as possible. They would then edit the rest of the blemishes on his face after filming. He’d never worn makeup just to be around people.

“The dark circles under your eyes are horrible, Jamie, you look as sleep deprived as you are. We’re just going to cover them up so you don’t look so dead inside.” Jane responded, opening the cover-up and squeezing a bit onto her finger. She had gotten a dark shade to match his skin and had, somehow, managed to get the exact right color. 

Jamie flinched a bit as she dabbed the makeup under his eyes and began to smear it across his bottom eyelid and above his cheekbone. 

“Hold still.” Jane muttered, almost under her breath as she switched to his other eye. As soon as she was done, she popped open the powder and lightly covered his face in it. When she was finally finished, she turned him toward the mirror. Jamie gaped a bit, amazed that so little could do so much. His skin looked almost flawless, the dark circles under his eyes almost completely nonexistent.

“You need some eyeliner.” Jane exclaimed, running from the bathroom and heading toward the living room. It took Jamie a second to understand what she had said and where she was going.

“Wait, what?” He called, poking his head out the doorway as he watched her rummage through her purse.

“Eyeliner. Just a little bit. It’ll make your eyes pop.” In all his years of doing movies and getting his makeup done, Jamie had never once been told he needed eyeliner. 

“Um, I think I look fine like this.” Jamie said, watching as Jane pulled something from her purse and came straight toward him.

“Trust me, this will be perfect. Kevin will be falling head over heels for you.” Jane explained, pushing Jamie back into the bathroom and instructing him to close his eyes. He refrained from explaining how Kevin was probably already head over heels for him as Jane lightly stroked his upper eyelid with the eyeliner.

When she was finally finished, she turned him back toward the mirror. Jane was right, it was hardly noticeable. There was a thin layer of eyeliner just behind his eyelashes, but it was enough to make it look as if his lash line was darker and, thus, made his eyes pop and drew attention away from the makeup covering his lower eyelid. 

“Oh.” Was all he could manage before there came a knock at the door, startling both Jamie and Jane. When it finally registered that someone was at the door, fear settled in Jamie stomach and he started to fear that his breakfast would start to come back up. 

“Well, aren’t you going to get that?” Jane asked, her teasing lost a bit in the concern her tone held. Jamie felt his head begin to swim and his vision start to fade to black. He had to catch himself on the vanity to keep from falling over.

“Okay, okay. I’ll go get him, you just take a deep breath.” Jane reassured him, rubbing her hand on his back and giving him a small hug from behind. He was aware of her leaving and the sounds of chatter from the front room, but his breathing made it hard to hear anything. He squeezed his eyes shut, willing the panic to go away and to let him have this day. Just this day. It was allowed to have him the next day, but if it would just let him have this one. 

“Jamie?” The voice was Kevin’s, though Jamie hadn’t even heard him coming. He opened his eyes and turned toward the doorway where Kevin stood, dressed in a black suit with a black button down and a white tie. The look was good on him and Jamie couldn’t help the blush that crept onto his cheeks, hopefully hidden a little by the makeup. 

They made eye contact and, for a second, both men were speechless.

And then Jane showed up.

“I tried to tell him to wait in the living room, Jamie, but he wouldn’t listen.” She said, pushing Kevin out of her way as she tried to be seen. Jamie snapped out of his stricken state faster, blinking a few times before looking at Jane, who seemed to be puffed up a little as if protecting Jamie.

“It’s fine, Jane. I should be going anyway.” He responded, looking back up at Kevin and giving him a smile. This snapped Kevin out of his trance and he nodded, still a little numb from the shock of seeing such a pretty face.

“Yeah. Yeah, let’s go.” Kevin agreed, reaching into the bathroom, passed Jane, to offer Jamie a hand. Smile growing wider, Jamie accepted his hand was pleased to be lead from the bathroom into the living room. 

“Right, well, have fun. Don’t be back too late. I’ll be out with Katie tonight, so I might not be here when you get back.” Jane was saying as they left. Jamie let out a small laugh, feeling a little better already, now that Kevin was with him.

“Yes, mom.” He called behind him as they left, reveling in the annoyed huff Jane let out as they shut the door behind them. For the entire walk to Kevin’s car, the two were completely silent. Jamie started to feel a little more uncomfortable the more they walked, hoping that maybe Jane hadn’t said something to offend Kevin.

When they reached Kevin’s car, he opened the door for Jamie and closed it behind him before going to the other side to get in. As soon as he was in, he paused in place. Jamie felt even more uncomfortable as the silence dragged on before Kevin finally turned to look at him and said:

“You’re wearing makeup.”

Jamie was taken aback. Was that it? Was Kevin being all silent just because Jamie was wearing makeup? Flabbergasted and, frankly, a bit appalled that this would be the first thing Kevin said to him when they were alone, Jamie nodded.

“Yeah, I’m wearing makeup. I didn’t think you would have a problem with that.” Jamie responded, coming off a bit more offended than he had intended. Kevin’s eyes grew wide and he waved his hands as a sign that this was, in fact, not the case.

“No! No, I don’t have a problem with it! You look beautiful.” Kevin exclaimed, leaning forward slightly, surprising Jamie in a different way. For a moment, they sat like this in the car, Kevin staring in Jamie’s eyes and Jamie trying to figure out what was going on. 

“Can I kiss you?” Kevin asked, leaning forward a bit more as he asked this. Jamie was pleasantly surprised this time, face melting into a soft smile. 

“I’d like that.” He responded, closing the distance between them and letting Kevin initiate the kiss. It was a soft push and pull as Kevin pressed deeper into Jamie and Jamie fought to keep his balance and not fall backward into the car door. Kevin pulled back for a split second before pressing back in again, his lips soft and warm, a feeling Jamie had missed for the whole day he had been without it.

The two men continued this passionate exchange with heavy breathing and warming cheeks until Kevin bit Jamie’s lower lip, making him gasp in surprise and backed away quickly.

For a moment, there was complete silence as Jamie sat with his back against the car door, fingers covering his lips. Kevin looked just as surprised as Jamie felt. They sat like this for what felt like minutes but was probably only seconds before Kevin turned a deep shade of pink and whipped around to start the car. 

Jamie watched, confused, as Kevin fumbled with his seatbelt and hastily backed out of the parking space. He continued to watch as Kevin hyper focused on the road ahead of him. 

“Kevin-“ Jamie started, quickly cut off as Kevin jumped in.

“Sorry, sorry. Um, I didn’t mean to…uh, bite you.” Kevin sounded just as flustered as he looked, voice cracking a couple of times, eyes blinking rapidly as he fought to find a different word to use in place of ‘bite.’ 

“Kevin, it’s okay, it just surprised me.” Jamie laughed, reaching over to rest a hand on Kevin’s as he operated the stick. Kevin jumped a little at the touch, but glanced quickly over at Jamie, whose expression was reassuring. Kevin looked back at the road and let out a sigh.

“Really?” He asked, turning the car down a different street as he asked it. Jamie nodded, giving Kevin’s hand a little squeeze.

“Yeah, really.” Jamie agreed, smiling in hopes to calm Kevin’s nerves. It must have worked, because they managed a comfortable conversation the rest of the way to the wedding. When they finally arrived, Kevin sat in the car for a second and just watched people enter the building. Jamie easily recognized Kevin’s family: tall, dark skin, dark hair. Kevin’s cousin must have been marrying a white guy because the rest of the guests were all pale white with red hair and strikingly blue eyes. There were other mixed guests that Jamie figured were friends, but he reserved judgement and attempted to stop assuming who was who based on their appearance. 

“You ready?” Jamie asked, surprised to find that he was the one reassuring the panicking in someone. Kevin looked at him and they locked eyes. Letting a small smile cross his face, Kevin nodded and they got out of the car. Jamie waited for Kevin to join him on the sidewalk and was surprised when Kevin looped his arm through Jamie’s and began to lead him toward the entrance.

There was a small lull in guest arrivals as they approached the door where a beautiful young lady in a pale pink gown stood, greeting guests. When she saw Kevin, here face lit up and she abandoned her post to launch herself at him. Kevin had to quickly unlink from Jamie’s arm in order to catch her, but was lucky enough to have quick reflexes. 

“Kevin! I’m so glad to see you! It’s been so long!” The girl exclaimed, laughing joyfully as Kevin spun her around once. He laughed, setting her down and letting out an exaggerated sigh.

“I think you’ve grown too big for that, Amy.” Kevin puffed, grabbing her shoulders and pressing down as if trying to shrink her. Amy laughed, pushing Kevin’s hands away and giving him a playful punch.

“I’ve had my growth spurt recently, but I haven’t stopped growing yet!” She exclaimed, standing on her toes. This was a little ineffective as the height her toes gave her wasn’t much more than the height her heels gave her. Kevin gave her a light shove and she fell back onto her heels before finally noticing Jamie was standing there.

“Oh! You must be Kevin’s boyfriend! I’ve heard so much about you from Audrey!” She exclaimed, grabbing Jamie’s hands in hers. Jamie’s eyes went wide at the word ‘boyfriend’ and he turned to look at Kevin, who gave him an exasperated look and a shake of his head.

“He’s not my boyfriend, Amy. We’re just friends.” Kevin explained, grabbing Jamie’s hand from Amy’s and saving him from the overenthusiastic teen.

“Right, says the man holding his hand.” Amy pointed out, gesturing toward the hand still holding Jamie’s. Kevin looked down at their hands and then locked eyes with Jamie. For a second they seemed to debate letting go, but neither seemed inclined to do so.

“Well, not yet anyway.” Kevin said, making Jamie turn a thousand shades of pink. Amy’s mouthed formed an ‘o’ shape and she pressed a hand over her mouth like a little gossiping school girl. 

“Anyway, Jamie, this is Amy, my younger cousin. Her sister’s the one getting married today.” Kevin introduced and Jamie offered a hand for shaking. Amy took it, putting on a fake front of haughtiness as if shaking hands was something she didn’t do very often.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you Jamie and I looked forward to getting to know you.” She gave him a super unsubtle wink as she said this and he couldn’t help but laugh.

“It’s nice to meet you too.” Jamie responded, surprised to be quickly dragged away from Amy by Kevin. 

“We’ll see you inside, kid!” Kevin called, ignoring Amy’s protests as they disappeared into the building. They were finally away from her and inside, surrounded by mingling people. Jamie immediately felt claustrophobic in the crammed space and pushed himself as close to Kevin as he could get, glad that they hadn’t let go of each other’s’ hands yet. 

They weren’t stuck for too long, as the doors into the ceremony room were opened and young family members began ushering guests to their seat. A young man in a snazzy tux with a pink flower pinned to his chest came toward Kevin, a grin on his face.

“Kevin! It’s so good to see you!” He exclaimed, arms spread for a hug. Kevin let go of Jamie’s hand to hug the younger man back, giving him a rather forceful pat on the back.

“It’s good to see you too, Jacob. This is Jamie, he’s my plus one for today.” Kevin explained, grabbing Jamie’s hand as soon as he’d left Jacob’s embrace. He tugged Jamie a little further forward and Jamie offered a hand to shake.

“It’s nice to meet you, Jamie. I’m Kevin’s cousin. Audrey’s my sister, so I get to be one of the groomsmen.” Jacob proudly tugged at his suit coat as he said this, showing off the snazzy get up he was wearing.

“It’s nice to meet you too. That’s really cool. Is being a groomsman fun?” Jamie asked, genuinely curious. He hadn’t had the chance to attend any of his siblings’ weddings, so the chance to be groomsman had been lost.

“Yeah, kinda. Right now, I just gotta usher people inside.” Jacob admitted, gesturing toward the door where a few more groomsmen were coming out to grab a few more guests. Jamie nodded, wondering if Amy outside was a bridesmaid. 

“Sounds kind of cool.” Jamie said, watching as a few of the men chatted with the guests and greeted them like family. 

“Hey, Jacob, have you seen Kyle? I wanted to talk to him before the ceremony started.” Kevin jumped into the conversation, sounding a little hopeful as he asked.

“Oh, yeah, but he’s already inside.” Jacob laughed a little as Kevin’s face dropped. “Don’t worry, you guys are sitting next to each other anyway. C’mon, let me show you in.” With this, Jacob lead Kevin into the ceremony room, gently pushing passed other guests as they approached the front of the room.

The place was decorated with pale pink ribbons and flowers and deep rose colors. The two contrasted and complemented at the same time and Jamie found himself distracted by how well they worked together. He was almost unaware that they had reached their spot when Kevin was nearly pushed back into him and he had to stumble to catch himself.

“Careful, Kyle, you’re going to knock me over.” Kevin was saying, laughing the whole while as he set his brother down. Kyle was a fair bit smaller than Kevin, but his size didn’t deter him from trying to use all his strength to knock his brother down. Jamie looked around Kevin’s shoulder and gasped. 

Kyle was Kevin’s spitting image. He has a petite build, but had clearly begun to put some muscle on as the suit he was wearing was a little tight around his shoulders. His hair was short and styled with a slight undercut that gave him a classy punk look. He wore a bit of eyeliner to accentuate his eyes and his mouth was glossy and smooth as if he was wearing lip gloss. His tux was a deep black, contrasted with the pink button down he wore and the black tie. 

Behind Kyle stood a beautiful woman with deep, ebony skin and kinky black curls done up in a style Jamie only wished he could pull off. She had a pale pink flower in her hair and was wearing a sleeveless pink Greek style gown that hid her feet but showed off her arms muscles. She looked powerful and dainty at the same time and Jamie was silently wondering how Kyle had won such a gorgeous woman. 

“Sorry, man, I’m just do excited to see you! It’s been way too long!” Kyle exclaimed, punching Kevin lightly on the shoulder. Kevin laughed and gave him a noogie, earning him several complaints about how long it had taken Kyle to do his hair. 

Kevin turned his attention to the woman behind Kyle, giving her a charming smile and offering his hand. When she took it, he gave her a small kiss and winked, pulling off the charm like nothing Jamie had ever seen before.

“You look stunning, as always, Gillian.” He complimented. Gillian didn’t seem impressed, but smiled fondly as if she was used to this.

“You are a charmer, Kevin, but you know you cannot have me.” Jamie’s eyes widened as she spoke, her accent thick and almost hard to place. She might have been African, but Jamie didn’t know enough African’s to be able to place where or if he was right. 

“I know, but that doesn’t make you any less beautiful.” Kevin said, pulling back and almost bumping into Jamie, who grabbed his shoulders to keep from falling backward into the aisle.

“Oh, sorry, Jamie, I forgot you were there.” Kevin said, turning to help Jamie steady himself. Jamie felt a little sting at these words, but brushed them off. Kevin hadn’t seen Kyle in ages, it was only right that he get so distracted by finally seeing him. With the attention turned toward him suddenly, silence fell over the group.

“So, this is Jamie. The man who finally stole my brother’s heart.” Kyle’s voice was smooth as butter and Jamie realized that they had more in common than their looks. Looking up at Kyle, they locked eyes and Jamie could feel so much charm oozing off of him he understood why Gillian could resist Kevin’s charm. She had gotten plenty of charm from Kyle.

“Uh, it’s nice to meet you.” Jamie said, offering a hand to shake and trying to ignore the blush he could tell was creeping up his neck. Kyle took his hand and pulled it up for a small kiss before letting it go. Jamie, unlike Gillian, was completely flustered by this display and couldn’t get out another word.

“Kyle, stop it. You’re making him nervous.” Kevin scolded, pulling Jamie away from Kyle. This didn’t sound as teasing as any o Kevin’s previous comments and Kyle could tell. He immediately dropped his charming façade and looked toward Jamie who gripped Kevin’s hand so hard his knuckles had started to turn white. Jamie wasn’t so much panicking because of Kyle, but more because of the plethora of strangers, the crowded room, and the added effect of a stranger treating him the way Kevin always did.

“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to.” Kyle apologized, looking concerned. Jamie shook his head and gave him a weak smile. 

“N-no, it’s okay. It’s a lot to take in.” Jamie responded, pressing himself close to Kevin as he said this. Kevin was like a security blanket, only bigger, stronger, and fully capable of fighting against the things that frightened Jamie. 

“Ladies and gentlemen, the ceremony is about to start. Please take your seats.” A voice called from the back of the room. Kevin let Jamie sit on the edge of the row, taking the spot between Jamie and Kyle. Jamie really didn’t have any problem with Kyle, but he was glad to have Kevin as the only one sitting next to him. 

The ceremony was lovely. The groom looked positively weak kneed as his bride walked down the aisle and both man and woman broke into tears reading their vows. Audrey looked just like Amy, who stood beaming in the row of bridesmaids at the front. Her husband was, indeed, a ginger haired white man, but they both seemed entirely enraptured with each other and Jamie couldn’t help but feel a little tearful as well.

As soon as the ceremony was over, guests were invited into the front lawn for the reception. Jamie hadn’t ever been to a wedding, but it seemed a bit sudden for the reception to be starting already. However, no one else seemed to complain as they meandered out of the hall and toward the exit. 

Jamie appreciated the open space of the front law and the fragrant smells of food all around them. He let out a deep sigh, smiling into the daylight and promptly bumping right into someone.

“I’m so sorry, I wasn’t watching where I was going.” He apologized, backing away as the woman he had bumped into turned around. Her long hair was drawn back into a tight bun and her severe face looked as if she was ready to yell him into the ground.

“Oh, you’re fine. There are so many people around, it’s hard not to bump into a few.” She said, raising her hand to wave off his apology. Jamie let out a sigh of relief. Usually, when he bumped into people, they got mad at him. Maybe it was the happy wedding atmosphere. Maybe he had just bumped into the nicest person in the world. 

“Linda, there you are. Would you like a cocktail? They’re serving your favorite.” The woman was approached by a tall, broad shouldered Polynesian man who looked like he had just retired from the marines. Jamie immediately panicked, looking around for Kevin but couldn’t seem to find him.

“That sounds lovely, dear! First, I just met the nicest young man. I haven’t caught your name yet.” She turned back to Jamie as her husband wrapped a massive arm around her shoulders. The man looked skeptical, but Linda didn’t seem at all phased by this.

“J-Jamie, ma’am. I’m Jamie.” He stuttered, watching the man warily as he responded.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Jamie. I’m Linda, and this is my husband Lewis. Don’t be frightened by him, he’s really a bit sweetheart.” Linda responded, patting Lewis on the stomach fondly. Lewis gave his wife a fond smile and Jamie’s fear melted almost completely off of him.

“It’s nice to meet you too. Are you family of the bride?” Jamie asked, hoping it wasn’t too much to assume they were on Audrey’s side considering Lewis was a Polynesian man. Linda nodded.

“Yep, I’m her aunt. It’s so nice to see Audrey happy. Are you a friend of the groom?” She asked, glancing around as if trying to decide who Jamie was with.

“Oh, no. I’m just a plus one. I came with-“ Jamie started, but was cut off when Kevin came up from behind him.

“Jamie! There you are! I’ve been looking for you….” Kevin stopped abruptly as he grabbed Jamie’s hand, eyes locking with Linda as he came to a stop, “everywhere.” He finished, excited and happy air dissipating almost immediately. Jamie looked between Linda and Kevin as their expressions turned sour and realized, slowly, that Linda was Kevin’s mother.

“Mother, I see you’ve met my date.” Kevin hesitated slightly before using the word date, but seemed to spit out every word he said as he said it. Jamie immediately felt panic rise and his hands shake. Here he’d been, chatting amiably with Kevin’s dragon mother without realizing who she was.

“Your date? And here I thought he was a nice straight boy.” Linda hissed, looking Jamie up and down with a raking gaze that made him feel naked and vulnerable. Lewis’ expression didn’t change much, but he didn’t say a word as silent words were thrown about. 

“He is a nice man, mother.” Kevin hissed back, dragging Jamie closer to him and wrapping an arm around his waist. Jamie felt a whole lot better being so close to Kevin, but the disgusted look on Linda’s face made him flinch.

“No, Kevin, he’s not. He’s just another homosexual like you and your sister.” Linda growled, folding her arms across her chest and looking behind Kevin where Kyle and Gillian slowly approached the group. They came to a stop on Kevin’s other side, both of them looking ready to join the fight. 

“Mother, please, now’s no-“ Kyle tried to started, but was cut off when Linda snapped at him.

“Kylie, darling, I do miss your long hair. Why don’t you wear it the way you used to? It looked so much better on you. And that suit, it doesn’t show off your curves at all. Why can’t you look more like the woman I know is in there somewhere?” Linda demanded, raking her gaze up and down Kyle’s figure as well. Kyle bit his lip, but Jamie wasn’t sure if he was holding back tears or more biting remarks. 

For a few seconds there was complete silence despite the guests mingling around them. Tension filled the air so thick a knife couldn’t even cut through it. Jamie felt panic welling up inside of him and he began to regret being there. Why had he come? Was he really worth this to Kevin? How could one woman make him feel so utterly worthless in so few words? She had been so kind only moments ago, what had made her change? 

“Ma’am, I’d appreciate it if you didn’t address my boyfriend in such a manner.” Gillian was the first to break the silence, earning a predatorial look from Linda.

“Darling, your looks would serve a man well. You deserve better than being toted around on the arm of a woman pretending to be a man. There are celebrities who would make you look better than Kylie.” Linda growled. Despite Lewis saying nothing, every single word Linda said seemed to be completely backed by him.

“Stop it, mother.” Kevin demanded, voice weak against Linda’s absolute power. The viciousness was turned immediately on him and Linda almost sounded like a rabid animal, the way she growled.

“And you, Kevin. I expected more from you, but you have to go and be gay too. I so was hoping for some grandbabies one day.” Linda pouted, almost making it sound like she was the victim in all of this. Linda opened her mouth to say something else, but Jamie felt a surge of power and confidence and cut her off.

“Stop. Now’s not the time for this. It’s not our day or your day, Linda. You may not love or respect any of us, but you were talking to me like an old friend only seconds before you found out I was gay. Kyle is an amazing man, Gillian a beautiful and kind woman, and Kevin is bi, not gay. Now I think it’s time for one of us to leave or this whole reception is going to be one massive cat fight.” Jamie shot, at her, giving her a stoic look he hoped was intimidating enough to make her leave.

For a moment there was absolute silence amongst the group before Linda finally snapped and let out an angry huff. 

“Let’s go, Lewis. The bar down the street serves better cocktails anyway.” Linda ordered, turning around and heading toward the parking lot. Lewis stood for a moment, looking between Linda and Jamie before smiling slightly, giving Jamie a wink, and then hurrying off to join his wife. 

There was more silence for a moment before Jamie’s knees collapsed beneath him and he fell onto the grass. 

“Jamie!” Kevin exclaimed, hurriedly trying to grasp under Jamie’s arms to catch him. Slowly he pulled him back up, supporting his entire body weight as he gave him a hug. “That was amazing.” Kevin whispered in his ear, giving him a kiss behind the ear as he squeezed Jamie’s shaking body.

Kyle and Gillian both agreed adamantly as Jamie slowly regained feeling in his limbs and wrapped his arms around Kevin. Tears began to trickle from his eyes as he collapsed into Kevin’s arms and had to be dragged to a table to sit down. Kyle ran off to grab some napkins and Gillian grabbed a drink off one of the tables. Jamie slowly regained his composure, but was still shaking by the time he could form words.

“Thanks, guys.” He muttered into his cup, afraid to look up. Kevin sat down in the chair next to him and turned toward him, ducking his head low in an attempt to look into Jamie’s eyes.

“That was amazing, Jamie. I’m so proud of you. That’s something none of us have ever been able to do.” Kevin reassured him, resting a hand on Jamie’s knee and rubbing his thumb across Jamie’s pants. 

“Seriously, Jamie. I’ve never seen her look so offended in her life! It was beautiful!” Kyle exclaimed, his voice drawing Jamie’s eyes upward. Before Gillian had the chance to say anything, a door on the side of the building opened and the DJ announced the couple to the cheering crowd. 

Jamie watched, in awe, as Audrey danced with her prince charming, the love they had for each other evident in the way they moved, the way they held each other, and the way they looked at each other.

There were a couple of other choreographed dances before the lawn was free for use by all the guests. Kevin asked Jamie to dance, but Jamie still wasn’t feeling it. 

“It’s okay. Maybe in a little bit?” Kevin asked. Jamie smiled softly, nodding and accepting the kiss Kevin gave him before he ran off to find Amy. For a moment, Jamie sat alone, watching Kyle dance with his girlfriend and Kevin dance with his cousin. 

“So, you’re Jamie.” The voice came out of nowhere and made Jamie jump. His nerves were already on edge, he didn’t need any more surprises for the day. “Calm down, I just wanted to meet you.” From behind him came Audrey, her beautiful white gown rustling as she moved. She took a seat in the chair Kevin had occupied earlier. 

“C-congratulations.” Jamie barely managed his well wishes and hoped he wouldn’t panic from having to interact with someone new.

“Thanks. I’ve been dying to meet you, but I’m kind of curious: why aren’t you dancing with Keivn?” Audrey asked, glancing out to the dancers where Kevin was teaching Amy a waltz. 

“Oh, uh, I’m kind of feeling overwhelmed at the moment. I’m just sitting here to cool off.” Jamie muttered, looking into his glass as he said so. For a moment Audrey was silent. He figured she was thinking how weird he was for saying that and he silently began to panic again.

“That’s right, Kyle did say something about you being easily spooked.” Audrey said, realization dawning in her tone. Jamie looked up and she gave him a gentle smile. 

“Spooked is…one word.” Jamie muttered, swishing the liquid around in his cup.

“Is there another word that works better?” Audrey asked, leaning forward on her hand and cocking her head slightly as if curious. Jamie smiled, already enjoying this woman’s company.

“Uh, yeah. Anxious is probably better. I have severe social anxiety and I think I just slayed a dragon.” Jamie responded, laughing silently as it finally dawned on him what he had said to Linda.

“A dragon?” Audrey sounded momentarily confused before she realized what he meant. “Oh! You mean Aunt Linda. I was starting to wonder where she went.” Audrey said, looking around as if she might find Linda among the crowd. “Way to go! No one’s ever been able to get her to shut up about her homophobia.” Audrey grinned, patting Jamie on the shoulder and making him flinch. She was about to say something else when her new husband approached.

“Audrey, mom and dad wanted to talk with us.” He said, offering his hand for her to grab. Audrey smiled, the fondness for this man evident in the way her eyes softened.

“Sure, babe.” She took his offered hand and stood. “It was nice to meet you, Jamie. I hope you can get at least one dance in tonight.” With this, she left. Jamie watched her go, smiling at the way her fingers intertwined with her husband’s.

Jamie got in more than one dance that night, his anxiety wearing off as the daylight faded. They must have been out there for hours, because the rest of the crowd had gone home. When they finally decided they needed to leave, they said goodbye to the couple and Kyle and got into Kevin’s car. Jamie decided it was probably better for him to drive, considering how tipsy Kevin was. 

When they finally got back to Jamie’s place, he started to wonder how he was going to get Kevin home without allowing him to drive. He was in the middle of figuring out this dilemma when Kevin leaned across the console and dragged Jamie into a kiss. 

At first, Jamie didn’t object. He was sort of liking drunk Kevin, who was a lot less charming than sober Kevin. However, he was a lot more bold than sober Kevin and Jamie was starting to have trouble breathing. Finally, Jamie pushed Kevin away, amused by the big old pout in Kevin’s lip when he did so.

“C’mon, Kevin. We need to get you home without letting you drive.” Jamie explained, looking down at the car’s controls. He really didn’t like the idea of letting Kevin behind the wheel of this thing, especially considering how expensive it looked. 

“Why don’t I just stay here?” Kevin suggested, unbuckling himself and pushing the car door open. Jamie started to protest but was cut off when Kevin slammed the door shut. He watched as Kevin came around the front of the car and opened Jamie’s door.

“Kevin, you can’t stay here.” Jamie started. He wasn’t able to explain why as Kevin leaned into the car and drowned Jamie in kisses. As Kevin pushed his tongue into Jamie’s mouth, an action met with little resistance but a few moans, he unbuckled Jamie’s seatbelt and began to pull him from the car.

“Kevin.” Jamie gasped, trying to push Kevin away but finding that his body really didn’t want to reject Kevin. He let out a small yelp as Kevin picked him up bridal style and headed toward the stairs.

“Kevin, stop. In normal circumstances, I would trust your strength and balance but you’re drunk and I really don’t feel like dying by falling down stairs.” Jamie protested, trying to wiggle his way free of Kevin’s grasp. Unfortunately, Kevin’s grip was just as strong drunk as it was sober, so Jamie had to try and keep them steady as they ascended toward his apartment. 

Kevin finally set Jamie down when he realized the door was locked and Jamie needed to grab his key. 

“Fine, you can stay here tonight, but you need to stay in the living room.” Jamie grumbled, feeling heat rise inside of him as Kevin grabbed his waist and began sucking at his neck, making it extremely difficult to unlock the door.

As soon as he had, Kevin resumed the bridal hold and kicked the door shut. Jamie struggled in his grasp but was starting to enjoy being handled so forcefully. 

Oh shoot.

Jamie let out a shout when they reached his bedroom and Kevin tossed him onto the bed. Immediately, Kevin began undoing the buttons on his own jacket and pulled off his tie. He leaned forward and untucked Jamie’s shirt, sliding his hands up Jamie’s chest. 

Letting out a yelp, Jamie wiggled up the bed, away from Kevin.

“What?” Kevin whined, crawling onto the bed to get closer. He pressed his lips loosely against Jamie’s and began to kiss him desperately, the kiss sloppy and weak. Jamie gave into it, nonetheless, and melted into Kevin’s grip as he held Jamie by the cheeks.

One of Kevin’s hands slowly found its way back under Jamie’s shirt and the smaller man began to wiggle with discomfort again. When Kevin’s finger pressed against his nipple, he let out a squeak and pushed Kevin away. 

“Okay, seriously, what’s wrong?” Kevin asked, sounding less drunk than Jamie thought he had been. Jamie pressed himself against the headboard as much as he could and pulled his knees to his chest.

“I…I just….” Jamie murmured, trying to avoid eye contact with Kevin. There came a sigh from Kevin’s end of the bed and some bouncing and shuffling as Kevin repositioned himself. 

“Jamie, you know you can talk to me.” Kevin whispered, guiding Jamie’s eyes back to his with a gentle hand on his jaw. Jamie melted under the softness of Kevin’s look and let out a small whimper.

“I hate my body.” Jamie responded, feeling tears well up into his eyes. Kevin opened his mouth to respond, but Jamie wasn’t done. “I hate the small bits of fat and the way my arms jiggle. I’m not fat, in fact I’m a little underweight. But I have chubbier parts that make me feel uncomfortable. And…and sometimes you can see my ribs. I just…. It makes me uncomfortable and I don’t know if I’m ready for anyone to see if yet.” Jamie explained, sniffing as a few tears trickled down his cheeks. Kevin gently wiped these away with his thumb and leaned forward. He pressed his forehead against Jamie’s and gave him a soft kiss.

“Okay. That’s okay. I don’t want to rush you.” Kevin whispered back, giving him another kiss. There was a small moment of silence in which Jamie realized a tight discomfort in his pants. 

“Um, I need to use the bathroom.” Jamie whispered, pulling quickly away from Kevin. Kevin looked down at Jamie’s pants and smirked. Jamie felt himself turn thousands of shades of pink as he awkwardly pushed himself off the bed. 

“It’s nice to know that at least I’m good enough to arouse you.” Kevin teased as Jamie booked it toward the bathroom. Silently, he cursed himself for actually finding Kevin attractive but he also grinned to himself that he might actually feel comfortable enough around someone to have sex for the first time.

Maybe one day.

For now, he had to get by jerking himself off in the bathroom as he moaned Kevin’s name, not feeling the least bit guilty because Kevin would have begged him to say it anyway. He orgasmed quietly, trying not to give Kevin any of his own masturbation fodder. Silently, he tidied up and grabbed the bathrobe off the hook, leaving the bathroom and finding Kevin asleep on his bed, still wearing his suit. 

With a fond laugh, he woke Kevin long enough to get him into something that was okay to wrinkle before changing and crawling into bed himself. Nothing happened, but it was nice to feel a warm presence in the bed beside him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Time: Judges dance!


	11. Week 9 - Argentine Tango and Paso Doble

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jamie and Kevin get to know each other more as they learn the Argentine Tango and the Paso Doble.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're getting really close, guys! Chapters are probably gonna be shorter, since there isn't too much plot left, but we still have to know if they win, so stick in there! Enjoy!

Jamie and Kevin had a lot of catching up to do.

The wedding had taken up the entire first day of practice, so they hadn’t gotten anything done. Usually, this worried them, but they knew what dances they would be doing and Kevin assured Jamie that he would have this in the bag. 

The theme for the week was Judge’s choice, so the judge choreographed a dance for them to perform that week. They would be doing two dances, the first of which would be learned as usual. This meant that they had to practice twice as long to learn both dances. Which wasn’t too much different from Spring Break, but it seemed a bit more stressful after the wedding.

“Jamie, try this.” Kevin was saying, turning Jamie to face the mirror and showing him some footwork. Jamie followed suit, listening to Kevin’s attempts to correct him, unable to full concentrate. After the wedding, he had been almost entirely socially put out, but it was difficult to avoid socialization when he was on a dance show.

“C’mon, Jamie, I know you can do this.” Kevin nudged Jamie, trying to get him to respond. Jamie blinked a couple of times, realizing he had spaced out. Shaking his head, he rubbed his hands down his face, tired. 

“Sorry, Kevin. I’m just…tired.” Jamie responded, running his fingers through his hair and giving Kevin a sheepish smile. Kevin’s face relaxed and his posture slumped slightly. 

“It’s okay, Jamie. I get it. We had a long day yesterday and you did amazing.” Kevin said, grabbing Jamie by the hips and drawing him in close. Jamie laughed, grabbing Kevin’s shoulders to push himself back just a little bit. Kevin grinned softly at him and Jamie smiled back, pleased for the silence for a moment. 

For a while, they stood like this, just looking into each other’s eyes. Jamie leaned his head upward and stood on his toes to give Kevin a kiss before turning back to the mirror and asking Kevin to instruct him on the footwork again.

They worked like this for the most of the morning, before they decided they needed a break longer than five minutes. 

“How about lunch? We’ve never been on a real date before.” Kevin suggested, grabbing his bag so he wouldn’t have to leave it in the studio. Jamie did the same, giving Kevin a confused look as they both exited the room, Kevin holding the door for Jamie. 

“Was the beach trip not a date?” Jamie asked, slowing a bit so that he and Kevin could walk in sync. Kevin shrugged, switching his bag to his left side so he could grab Jamie’s hand with his right. Jamie had grown used to this, though the sensation of Kevin’s hand in his was amazing every single time.

“I dunno, I never really thought about that. I mean, I didn’t ask to go out on a date, did I? I just asked if you wanted to go to the beach.” Kevin responded, looking sideways at Jamie as he spoke. Jamie nodded, expression showing that he saw where Kevin was coming from. 

“I guess you have a point.” Jamie said, not having put up too much of a fight against this. Kevin smiled and nudged Jamie playfully as they left the building, heading toward Kevin’s car in the parking lot. 

Ever since Jamie had called Katie in to distract Jane, Jane hadn’t stayed to watch practice. After hearing how the wedding had gone, Jane was completely on Kevin’s side. She hesitated whenever she talked about him, but agreed that she had judged him too quickly and was willing to give him a second chance. 

“So, will you go out on a date with me, Jamie Cordero?” Kevin asked, tossing his bag into the back of his car and turning to look Jamie in the eyes. Heavens, he was so cheesy, Jamie thought, smiling giddily at Kevin’s expression.

“Of course I will.” Jamie responded, leaning in to give Kevin a kiss before walking around to the other side of the car to get in. Kevin hopped in shortly after him and started the car, glancing over at Jamie every once in a while, as if making sure he was still there. 

They drove in silence for a while, the music coming from Kevin’s radio the only sound. Jamie felt content, that he could sit in the car with Kevin and say nothing but still feel comfortable. With most people, he felt the need to fill the silence, as if they were getting nothing done if they weren’t saying anything. But with Kevin, Jamie felt fine not saying a word. He knew this meant that he had gotten to know Kevin well enough, his anxiety had begun to relax around Kevin instead of getting worse.

“So, where are we going?” Jamie asked, realizing they had been driving longer than he thought they would have needed to. Kevin glanced over at him quickly before looking back toward the road.

“It’s a surprise.” Kevin responded, turning a corner and giving Jamie a sly look. Rolling his eyes, Jamie slouched a bit in his seat, ready for the drive to be long.

“Right, like the beach was a surprise?” Jamie asked, voice teasing as he glanced over at Kevin. Kevin laughed nervously, face turning just a bit darker as he blushed, embarrassed to be reminded of that trip. 

“Uh, not exactly like the beach.” Kevin responded, giving Jamie a sheepish smile. This made Jamie laugh. He leaned over in his seat and gave Kevin a peck on the cheek. 

“It’s okay, the beach was fun.” Jamie assured him, sliding back into his seat. Kevin smiled back, embarrassment still evident on his face, but not as bad as before. After the conversation was over, the two men fell into a silence as they drove. 

It wasn’t long after the conversation had ended that Kevin pulled into a small parking lot and stopped, unbuckling himself and getting out of the car. Jamie clicked the button on his belt and was about to open the door when Kevin did it for him. 

“Thanks.” Jamie laughed, taking the hand Kevin offered to help him out of the car. Kevin lead him toward the entrance of the small restaurant, opening the door for him like a true gentleman. 

The place was small, just a long, thin room with a counter on one side and booths on the other. It was almost like one of those diners in the movies: quaint and homely. There were people taking up all the seats along the counter, chatting like they were old friends. Most of the booths were taken, but Jamie and Kevin were lucky to find one empty. 

Jamie slid into the booth across from Kevin, awestruck by the view out the window beside him. The windows were floor to ceiling and revealed a view that looked over the ocean. The waves crashing on the shore foamed and churned, creating beautiful clouds of mist along the rocks. Jamie was almost too mesmerized to notice that they had been approached by a waiter.

“Hi, folks! Thank you for joining us today. These are your menus, feel free to take your time deciding. Can I start us off with any drinks?” The man asked, his cheery face covered in a smile Jamie could actually believe was genuine.

“Can I get a coke?” Kevin asked, turning to look at Jamie to indicate that it was his turn to ask for something. 

“Uh, a lemonade?” Jamie asked, almost as if they might not have it. The man tells them he’ll be right back before disappearing behind the counter and then into the kitchen. Jamie looks around some more, still in awe of the place and the people inside. The diner seems to be filled with all sorts of people and the friendly atmosphere makes Jamie feel right at home along with them, despite the large crowd and his anxiety.

“Do you like it?” Kevin asked, leaning forward to catch Jamie’s attention. Jamie finally draws his gaze away from the restaurant and smiles at Kevin.

“It’s amazing, Kevin. How did you know this place existed?” Jamie looked around some more at the subtle 50’s style decorations alongside the modern twists put on the place. It was elegant yet hopping with jazzy music playing softly on the speakers overhead. 

“I used to walk along the beach whenever I was in a bad mood. One time, I passed by this spot and usually I don’t notice the stores or the restaurants, but people were coming out of here in hi spirits. Someone must have just told a funny joke, because they were laughing hysterically. I came in to see what the big draw was and I just…I felt at home.” Kevin responded, turning his head and staring out the window. 

Jamie could almost imagine a sad, dejected, and tired Kevin walking down the beach, hands in his pockets, face turned toward his feet. After meeting Kevin’s mom and learning how awful Kevin’s childhood had been, finding somewhere that felt like home must have felt like a dream to Kevin. 

“I’m really glad you took me here, Kevin.” Jamie said, leaning forward and placing a hand on Kevin’s. This drew Kevin’s attention away from the window and toward his date, a small smile on his face.

“After meeting you, Jamie, everywhere feels like home. As long as you’re there.” Kevin whispered, voice almost too soft to be heard over the chatter in the room. Jamie felt himself heat up, flustered and taken by surprise at Kevin’s gentle confession. Slowly, he began to smile, surprise wearing off to fondness as he leaned forward to give Kevin a kiss, interrupted by the arrival of their drinks.

“There you folks go. Are we ready to order?” The man asked as Jamie leaned back into his seat and looked away. He felt embarrassment flare in his chest and panic start to set in. Kevin caught his hand before it slid off the table and gave it a reassuring squeeze.

“Can we have just a little longer?” Kevin asked, making eye contact with their waiter and giving him a friendly smile.

“Of course, Kevin. Take all the time you need.” With this, the man winked before walking away. Jamie looked up, giving Kevin a confused look.

“He knows your name?” Jamie asked, feeling a little more comfortable to sit straight in his seat again. Kevin nodded, leaning his elbow on the table and resting his head in his hand.

“Yeah, like I said, it felt like home. I come here whenever I need someone to talk to. We get newcomers here every once in a while, but there’s always a frequent customer in here somewhere. Today seems to be a family reunion.” Kevin responded, looking sideways at the counter full of people. “The employees also rarely change. Carl’s been working here since before I discovered the place. Great guy.” Kevin added on, turning to look back at Jamie. 

What a beautiful thing, Jamie thought, that everyone could come here to feel at home and bond over food. Jamie smiled fondly at Kevin, both of them sitting there in comfortable silence, doing nothing but holding hands and looking into each other’s eyes. 

“Um, we should probably start thinking about what to get.” Jamie whispered, afraid of breaking the silence but aware that they couldn’t sit there, staring longingly into each other’s eyes forever. Kevin blinked and then nodded, sitting up straight and letting Jamie’s hand go so he could pick up his menu.

“They have all day breakfast, here. Their hash browns are to die for.” Kevin pointed out, opening his menu and turning to the breakfast page.

The rest of the lunch was spent joking about stupid trends and learning about each other. Jamie discovered that Kevin loved breakfast foods more than most any food and that his favorite song was the one that had been playing when he had first entered the diner. Jamie told Kevin about his small role in Chicago in high school and how it had been the first acting experience to really get him into it. 

After a few minutes, their waiter returned and took their order. The food was delicious, as Jamie had expected based on the way Kevin talked it up, and the presentation adorable. He ordered the grilled cheese even though Kevin insisted he get the pancakes. The sandwich was cut in half and stacked on one end of the plate. In the other half of the plate were the fries with two small ketchup cups in the midst of them. The set up gave the illusion of a smiley face and Jamie couldn’t help but smile back down at it. 

For what felt like hours, Kevin and Jamie talked. Jamie told Kevin more about his own family, a topic Jamie rarely spoke about. He explained how he had been disowned when he went to school to be an actor and then completely cut off when he came out as gay. How he missed both his sister’s weddings and the birth of his nieces and nephews. Kevin told Jamie about how he finally broke away from his mom and left the house, completely independent with no money to start himself off with.

Eventually, they got up to leave, thanking Carl and tipping him heavily. They continued to talk all the way back to the studio, both relaxed and refreshed. When they finally stopped in the parking lot, they both went silent, staring out the window at the side of the building. For a moment, they just sat there, saying nothing, neither man moving a muscle.

“We should probably go in. Our judge is probably waiting for us.” Kevin whispered, the words breaking the silence almost harshly. It wasn’t that Jamie didn’t want to go in, it was just that he wanted to spend more time with Kevin. Alone. 

“Yeah, we probably should.” Jamie responded, unbuckling himself and pushing the door open. Kevin followed right behind him and they went back to practicing their dance.

Their judge chose the Paso Doble for them to dance. Jamie was thrilled to be doing two Latin dances in one week, ready to show off his moves. They worked together for the rest of the day, finally finishing to call it a night when they realized they had been there longer than they really needed to. 

Jamie kissed Kevin goodbye, wishing they didn’t have to be apart but knowing that he wouldn’t really feel comfortable staying at Kevin’s place or having Kevin stay at his. Besides, he knew he would be seeing Kevin the next day anyway. 

\----

The rest of the week went similarly.

In the mornings, they would practice the Argentine Tango, getting as much learned as possible. They spent more time in the studio than they had in past weeks because of the wedding cutting them short a day. They had the dance completely learned by Thursday and worked on perfecting the fine details for the rest of the week.

After finishing practice for the tango, they would both head out for lunch somewhere, alternating who paid and who chose where they went. 

Jamie discovered several new places to eat, all of which served amazing food and had a wonderful atmosphere. It was hard to choose a favorite, but Jamie was pretty sure it would be the first diner they had gone to. 

After lunch, they would come back to the studio and practice with the judge, learning the Paso Doble and working on the fine details as soon as they knew the whole dance. Their judge was super pleased to be working with them, excited by their dynamic and how close they had gotten. Each time he would mention this, both Kevin and Jamie would laugh under their breath or exchange looks as if telling each other ‘if he only knew.’ 

Saturday was the dress rehearsal, but Jamie didn’t really feel stressed. He was excited to get on the stage and practice in full costume. It made him feel alive, dancing on the stage, no longer afraid of what others might think. 

Sunday was the performance show, which wasn’t any shorter despite the small number of couples left dancing. Each couple danced two dances, one of which was taught by a judge. 

Kevin and Jamie got high remarks from the other judges about their Argentine Tango, though their score wasn’t perfect. They were excited that it was at least very high. They cheered on the other couples who danced, thrilled to see one of them get a perfect score. 

There was a small break before the judge’s dances were performed, but Jamie didn’t feel anxious. He stood with Kevin on the balcony, watching the professional dancers on the stage performing during commercial break. They held hands as they watched, standing in comfortable silence, the weight of the competition having been completely lifted. 

Jamie realized, as they watched, that their love story was still going. In any movie, the story might have ended as soon as they kissed or admitted to liking each other. Both Kevin and Jamie had done just that, though maybe indirectly. The movie would have ended with them in a passionate embrace, looking into each other’s eyes as the film faded to black and the bold words announced the end.

As Jamie turned to look up at Kevin, who seemed content and mesmerized by the dancers below, he realized no story every truly had an end. They still had the rest of the show to finish and, even then, their story wouldn’t be over. Not for a long time. 

The dance below them ended and Jamie was snapped from his reverie as they were called to backstage. He followed Kevin to the back, stopping just behind the curtain as they waited for their cue to go out. 

“You know what, Kevin?” Jamie whispered, suddenly realizing something. Kevin squeezed his hand.

“What?” He asked, pulling Jamie along behind them when they were cued onto the stage.

“I don’t care if we win. Meeting you was enough.” Jamie whispered, taking his spot on the stage before giving Kevin a kiss. Kevin smiled at him, but didn’t have time to respond as he had to take his spot. 

They danced the best dance they could have possibly danced, earning a perfect score from the judges. As they walked off camera, Kevin turned Jamie around and gave him a kiss that felt like it lasted ages. When they finally broke away, Kevin leaned his forehead against Jamie’s, ignoring the other dancers and hosts around them.

“I don’t care if we win, either.” He whispered. Jamie would have been content to just stay there, but they had to leave eventually. Jamie went home that night, giddy to be in love, worried and afraid and all around jumpy. He stayed up with Jane, watching Pride and Prejudice.

The next day, on the results show, they learned that they were safe. They would be one of the last couples and were guaranteed at least third place. Jamie couldn’t have been more excited to be on this show. He was afraid of what was to come afterward, but he knew that, so long as he had Kevin, he would be just fine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Time: Finals day one: fox trot


	12. Dancing Among the Stars

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jamie and Kevin gear up for their last two performances and go on another date.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was looking at what was supposed to go into the last two chapters and realized it would make a longer chapter to just combine them both, so this is the end! I hope it doesn't feel too rushed at the end but I kinda like how it turned out. Enjoy, and thanks for reading!!
> 
> Also, they get a little naughty in this chapter so if you want to skip it, stop reading at "Not long after...." and continue at the next "----"

After kissing Kevin in front of all the dancers and one of the hosts, Jamie’s life had picked up considerably.

The media was all over the two of them about how long they had been together and when they had fallen in love and all sorts of crazy questions. Jamie had been swamped by paparazzi before, he was America’s heartthrob and the press just needed to know more about his personal life. This, however, was different.

Jamie could barely leave his apartment without getting swamped by people with cameras and microphones asking all sorts of personal questions. Jane and Katie started staying at his apartment over night to help him get to his car and then to the studio. Every morning was a nightmare Jamie wished would end, but arriving at the studio was a moment of solace from the crazy outside world.

“You’re late.” Kevin called when he noticed Jamie come in. He did a spin on his toes and then turned to face Jamie as he put his bag down and let out a sigh. 

“It’s chaos out there, Kevin. I’m amazed I even made it at all.” Jamie responded, running his hands through his hair in exasperation. The studio itself was guarded by heavyset bodyguards to keep the dancers practice private. The camera crew working to record the package were the only ones allowed in the studio.

“I know, but I got here on time, so that’s no excuse.” Kevin insisted, the small smile on his face indicating that he wasn’t all that serious. Jamie smiled up at him as he approached and Kevin wrapped his arms around Jamie’s back. 

“We have plenty of time to practice, we’re basically trapped in here.” Jamie muttered as Kevin’s face got closer to his. Kevin smiled as he kissed Jamie and for a moment they seemed too distracted to remember what they needed to be doing.

There was a cough from nearby.

“Uh, as great as this footage is going to be, you guys probably need to practice.” Both Kevin and Jamie jumped out of their private world as one of the workers on the camera crew caught their attention. It wasn’t often that they spoke, but it was part of their job to get good footage about the week, not just Jamie and Kevin’s happy relationship. 

“Right, of course. Let’s get started.” Kevin cleared his throat and directed Jamie to the floor as Jamie smiled sheepishly at the camera and followed him. 

The dance of the week was actually a redone version of the very first dance they had done together. Jamie didn’t remember much of it, but he knew it was already going to be better this time around because of how close they had gotten. 

Kevin got started by jumping right into reviewing the entire dance. They had to run through it several times before Jamie fully remembered it, but it was almost like muscle memory and didn’t take as long as Jamie had anticipated.

When they finished reviewing the dance, Kevin began directing Jamie in how to improve certain parts of it, mostly his arms and legs. They had been working for a couple of hours when Kevin finally stopped them and they sat on the benches along the back of the room. For a moment they sat in silence, just catching their breath as they sipped water and stared at themselves in the mirror. 

“Hey, do you wanna go out tonight?” Kevin asked, turning his head lazily toward Jamie as he asked. Jamie grunted, loving that Kevin had asked but knowing full well how difficult going out was going to be.

“You know I would love to, Kevin, but there’s no way we’re going to find anywhere away from the press.” Jamie responded, turning his head to look at Kevin as he said this. Kevin let out his lower lip in a small pout.

“C’mon, I know the perfect place. We should be fine.” Kevin replied, looking disappointed that Jamie would say no. Jamie sighed, knowing how easily he was persuaded. Kevin didn’t even wait for an answer and just stood up, heading toward the center of the room.

“One more time?” He asked, massive grin on his face. Jamie couldn’t help but smile back. He was head over heels for this man.

\----

That night, Kevin picked Jamie up from his apartment and drove him nearly all the way across town to a small restaurant tucked between a couple of high end hotels. It had a valet service and escorts waiting at the door to show people in. Jamie had never been somewhere so nice and he felt underdressed, despite the fact that he was wearing a suit. 

“Kevin, you don’t have to spend this much on me.” Jamie pointed out as Kevin offered him a hand to help him out of the car. Kevin clicked his tongue and waved off the escort at the door.

“Please, I can spend whatever I want on you. Besides, it’s not as expensive as it looks.” Kevin responded as the entered the restaurant and Jamie’s breath immediately left him.

The place was rather roomy, despite its small outward appearance. Tables were spaced generously across the room with parties of people ranging from two to ten, all chatting away amiably. Everyone wore suits or dresses and held their glasses like Jamie always saw in the movies. There was an entire wine rack on one wall where waiters picked out wines and took them to waiting tables. 

The smell of food was powerful, but not overpowering, and definitely made Jamie’s stomach grumble. He couldn’t quite tell what was on the plates of the people around him, but it sure looked and smelled good. He was pulled from his reverie as Kevin tugged at him to follow, the host leading them to their seats. 

Jamie followed along, still awestruck at the absolute class in this place. He hadn’t been famous long enough to go to any stereotypically fancy dinner parties, so the absolute grandeur of this restaurant was stunning. 

Kevin pulled Jamie’s seat out for him before going to take his own seat. Their waiter quickly approached them with the menus and they ordered their initial drinks. It all settled down quickly as Kevin looked across the table at Jamie, their eyes meeting.

“Kevin, this place is beautiful. I’ve never been anywhere so fancy.” Jamie said, aweing over the beautiful candle centerpiece and the way their napkins were folded on the table in front of them.

“It’s all appearances. It’s really not as fancy as you think.” Kevin responded, picking up his menu and tapping Jamie’s to indicate he should pick up his. Jamie did so, opening it up to find it to look exactly how he imagined. There were no images, like many restaurants he frequented, but it was all ordered nicely by title, then by ingredients, followed by the price. The first on the menu was…wait, what?

“Macaroni and cheese?” Jamie asked incredulously, lowering his menu to look at Kevin, who was grinning like he knew a secret and Jamie had just figured it out.

“Yeah! This place serves your classic diner dishes but with a flare that makes them worthy of their fancy reputation.” Kevin said, pushing Jamie’s menu back up and encouraging him to look on.

Kevin was right, the whole menu was filled with diner classic dishes but the ingredients had a certain fancy twist. Grilled cheese with Gouda, Havarti, and mushrooms. Cheeseburger with a pretzel bun, gouda, and mushrooms. It all sounded so good, Jamie wasn’t sure which one he wanted. 

“I’m trying to decide between the mac ‘n’ cheese and the grilled cheese. What about you?” Kevin asked, lowering his menu to look at Jamie, who took a second to look up.

“I don’t know, Kevin. This all sounds amazing.” Jamie responded, looking up at Kevin was a giddy expression like a kid in a candy store. Kevin folded his menu and put it down, smiling back at Jamie.

“I’ll get the mac, you get the grilled cheese and we can share?” Kevin offered. Jamie took a moment to consider this and realized that he wasn’t going to make a decision either way. 

“Yeah, sure.” He laughed, folding his menu and putting it down as well. When the waiter returned with their drinks, both of them ordered and their menus were removed from the table. While they waited for their food, they talked about the final dance they had to do, Jane’s new girlfriend, and the fact that Kevin hadn’t heard from his mom since the wedding. 

Jamie had worried about the posh atmosphere around the restaurant, but just sitting in it and listening to everyone else chat and enjoy themselves, Jamie realized it didn’t matter. Kevin had been right: it only looked fancy. 

Their food arrived in what seemed like record time and both of them dug in immediately. The grilled cheese was phenomenal. Jamie had never tasted anything with such a perfect ratio of melty cheese to crispy bread. The mushrooms added something to it that Jamie couldn’t quite place, but really quite enjoyed. Kevin took the other half of his sandwich and he ate half of the mac ‘n’ cheese, which was also very gooey. There were breadcrumbs in it, disrupting the gooey consistency in a pleasant way that added a little bit of new flavor as well. 

They talked very little as they ate, the only comments being the occasional praise of the food they were eating. The food was gone rather quickly, which was disappointing to Jamie, but the waiter returned and asked if they would be having dessert. Kevin said yes before Jamie could even drop in a word and ordered the classic brownie. Jamie had no idea what that meant, but he was excited to find out.

It turned out that the brownie was a single, large round brownie on a plate with a deep lip and a single scoop of vanilla ice cream on top. The ice cream was sweet and cold, countering the bitter warmth of the brownie beneath it. Jamie felt like he was in heaven and would definitely be sleeping well that night. 

When they had finished, Kevin paid the check and escorted Jamie back out. They stood on the sidewalk, waiting for the valet to return Kevin’s car, leaning happily into each other.

“Wow, that was good food.” Jamie muttered, resting his head on Kevin’s shoulder. Kevin hummed a contented agreement before Jamie felt his body tense suddenly. Looking up, Jamie opened his eyes and spotted what Kevin had seen: in the bushes across the street there was a flash as the light from the restaurant reflected off a camera lens.

“Great.” Kevin muttered just as the valet pulled up and more cameramen showed up. Kevin quickly opened the door for Jamie and ran to the other side of the car without shutting it, hopping in quickly and slamming the door. The valet backed off in surprise as Kevin peeled out and raced down the street. For a while they seemed to be alone, but several large vans with news logos on the sides pulled around the corner behind them.

“I don’t think we’re going to be able to get you home without getting swamped.” Kevin grumbled, looking in his rearview mirror at the vans behind them. It wouldn’t take much for the vans to catch up, Jamie realized, and them stopping Jamie’s parking lot was only going to corner them. 

“Then I guess I’ll have to stay at your place.” Jamie muttered, not even looking over at Kevin as he said this. There was a moment of silence as Kevin processed what Jamie had just said.

“Y-yeah, you can have the couch. You seemed to like it last time.” Kevin responded, clearly flustered. Jamie thought for a second about that and then shook his head.

“N-no, it’s okay, I can sh-share the bed with you.” He responded, definitely avoiding looking at Kevin now. There was another moment of silence before Kevin spoke again.

“You don’t have to do this, Jamie.” He said, turning down a street and glancing at Jamie quickly before looking back at the road.

“I…I want to.” Jamie responded, finally turning to look at Kevin and giving him a massive grin. When Kevin looked over, he smiled back, realization hitting him about what Jamie was implying. 

“O-Okay! Yeah! We can share the bed!” Without warning, the car shot forward at a higher speed than it had been going. Kevin’s driving became instantly reckless and frightening as Jamie grabbed the door and whatever else he could get his fingers around.

“Kevin! Slow down! I’m not going anywhere!” Jamie exclaimed, trying to decide if it was funny that Kevin was so excited or frightening that he might die before they reached Kevin’s place.

“I know!” He shouted over the sound of the engine, turning down another street and then whipping into the parking lot at his apartment complex. It took him no time at all to find his spot and both men raced to Kevin’s apartment, keeping out of sight of anyone who might be nearby. As soon as Kevin had shut the door behind them, Jamie let out a sigh and relaxed his shoulders. 

Not long after he had finally cooled down, he heard the door locking and felt Kevin’s hands slide around his waist. Heat filled him up as Kevin pressed his lips to the side of Jamie’s jaw and began working kisses down his neck. Jamie stood, frozen, for a second as Kevin took over. 

“Take off your jacket and tie.” Kevin whispered directly into Jamie’s ear, sending tingles down his spine. Shakily, Jamie reached for his tie and loosened it, slipping it over his head and tossing it on the coffee table. Kevin backed away enough to allow Jamie to take his jacket off before closing in again. 

Kevin continued to work kisses into Jamie’s neck, unbuttoning Jamie’s first button and working his way down to his shoulder. Jamie shuddered as Kevin unbuttoned more buttons and ran his fingers down his chest and stomach. Kevin pulled back, taking Jamie’s shirt with him, leaving Jamie without a shirt. 

“Turn around.” Kevin directed, voice gentle and not commanding. Jamie did as he was told, holding his hands to his chest and not looking up at Kevin. For a second, he just stood there with his arms on his chest and Kevin had to step forward and remove them, directing Jamie’s gaze upward. 

“You’re beautiful.” Kevin whispered, kissing Jamie softly on the lips as he worked his own tie loose and lost both it and his jacket, pressing Jamie’s hand to his chest to encourage him to undo the buttons himself. After a little while making out, Kevin began to step forward, directing Jamie blindly toward his bedroom. 

As they walked, Kevin stopped to take off his shoes, untying Jamie’s for him while he was down there. When he straightened up, readying himself to stand, he froze, face level with Jamie’s crotch. Immediately Jamie turned thousands of shades of pink, letting out a small yelp as Kevin tucked his fingers under both waistbands around Jamie’s hips. 

“Is this okay?” Kevin asked, stopping to look up at Jamie, whose hands were over his mouth as he tried not to look. Hastily he nodded, giving Kevin the go ahead and feeling the sudden exposure to the cold air around him. Pleasure and pure, overwhelming sensation took over Jamie as Kevin dipped his head down and then pulled up slowly, mouth tight and hot. Jamie shuddered and peaked through his fingers at Kevin whose head was no bobbing in a consistent rhythm. 

Kevin kept going for what was probably only a minute before Jamie pressed his hand on Kevin’s head and pulled him off, panting heavily. 

“Bedroom. Now.” Jamie whimpered, realizing his voice was kind of hoarse. Kevin grinned, standing to his full height. Jamie’s legs were a little shaky, but he managed to reach Kevin’s room without falling over. He flopped onto the bed and pulled himself toward the headboard, flipping over as Kevin rummaged through his drawers. 

When he found what he was looking for, Kevin crawled onto the bed as well, losing his pants and leaning over Jamie to give him a kiss.

“You are so beautiful.” He whispered. Kevin continued to whisper this and many other terms of endearment and love into the night, the world fading to nothing but them as they continued to enjoy each other’s company.

\----

The rest of the week was a blur. Jamie was giddy that he had finally been comfortable enough to be intimate with someone, that Kevin had been so nice about it, and that he had woken up to Kevin’s face asleep beside him.

However, the reverie didn’t last long as they were confronted by the press just outside Kevin’s door. They managed to make it to the studio to practice. The rest of the week went much the same way as they practiced the dance and then went back to Kevin or Jamie’s place and then on repeat until Sunday finally rolled around. They’d finally finished mastering the redone version of their foxtrot along with their other dance: a fusion Charleston and cha-cha. 

It was hard to believe that the finals had finally arrived, but there they were, standing backstage as the hosts introduced the show. Jamie jumped on the balls of his feet, hand in hand with Kevin as the first couple went out. They had made it so far, Jamie wanted to win. But he knew that it wouldn’t matter if they did. They had each other and that was enough for him.

The night seemed to drag on for eternity as everyone danced, guests performed, and scores were given. Jamie cheered everyone on as a way to kill his nerves. Kevin killed his nerves by kissing Jamie as they walked onto the floor, took their poses, and started their dance.

It was so different from when they had first performed it, but it was so much better. Jamie enjoyed himself, didn’t fall, and kept shooting eyes at Kevin who would return them. The judges praised their improvement and they headed backstage to see their scores. They both cheered when they got a perfect thirty. 

The scores were very close. Each couple still had one more dance to perform and then the winner would be announced. As Jamie followed Kevin around to the edge of the curtain to watch the commercial break performance, he kept glancing up at Kevin to see if he appeared nervous.

“Are you nervous, Kevin?” Jamie asked, looking up at Kevin as he did so. There was a small pause as Kevin appeared to be thinking about it and then he shook his head.

“No. I met you, remember? That’s all that really matters now.” Kevin responded, turning and giving Jamie a small peck on the forehead. There was a small moment of silence as Kevin scooted closer to Jamie and both turned to watch the show. 

“I’m nervous.” Jamie muttered, hoping it didn’t sound bad after what Kevin had said. He felt Kevin’s hand squeeze his and looked up to find Kevin was looking at him.

“That’s okay.” Kevin responded, giving Jamie a reassuring smile. Jamie felt himself relax a bit as the dance number ended and the hosts moved on to the next round. 

After that moment, it really didn’t matter to Jamie how well they did on their dance. It didn’t matter to him that they got a perfect score or that the crowd had given them a standing ovation. It really didn’t matter to him when everyone saw them kiss and the crowd screamed louder. It didn’t matter to him when everyone waited for the announcement of the winner and it wasn’t them. It didn’t matter to him that they only got second place and no fancy mirror ball trophy. 

Nothing mattered to him.

Nothing except Kevin.

With Kevin: it felt like he was dancing among the stars.


End file.
